Sports – and in the United States, football – fulfills deep and significant longings in many people. Church in the morning, home for lunch, then football: it’s just what people do on Sunday. Spiritual needs checked off at church, physical needs taken care of between lunch and game-time snacking, and emotional and social needs met in the highs and lows of the National Football League all afternoon and evening among family and friends. I have two close friends who have told me that the time they talk with their dads the most is during football games. While the more intellectual or emotionally healthy among us might scoff at a parent-child relationship grounded in televised sports, maybe we should step back and think about why people love football so much, and celebrate the bonds that football builds.

What human needs does watching football fulfill?