Football is considered by many to be the greatest team sport in the history of the world. It is loved by fans of any age, any race, and any religion; it brings people together like nothing else can. It’s pretty safe to say every one of these multiple million football fans, at some point in their lives, has dreamt of playing at the highest level that the sport has to offer, the National Football League. Unfortunately, this wild dream only comes true for 1,696 men at a time around the globe. Reaching this elite platform requires an unrivaled work ethic and a surplus of god given talent that few athletes possess. This rare combination creates something truly special when these players take the field, something that keeps fans coming back for more. When any activity is loved by so many people, it is bound to be hated by a few. One of the popular arguments that these haters have against the NFL is that the league is rigged. They actually believe that every spectacular catch, game winning field goal, career ending injury, and goal line stop is fake, and that the NFL is nothing more than a souped up version of the WWE. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The first and most obvious reason why these people are wrong is that someone would have talked by now. Throughout the entire history of the NFL, thousands of players and coaches have remained silent. Not one single person has said a word to indicate that the National Football League is fixed. To this counter argument, one of these “anti-fans” would say, “No one has talked because they are making million upon millions of dollars to keep their mouths shut,” Okay, so this probably would work for most people, but throughout the entire course of the NFL, there had to have been at least a couple honest men, who wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if they kept this secret, pulling the wool over the eyes of millions.

Every little  boy who plays pee wee football has NFL dreams. Some guys make these dreams a reality. They put in extra work to make themselves as big and as fast as they could possibly be. They dominate the completion all throughout high school and get a scholarship to a Division 1 college. From there, they continue to work harder than their fellow teammates and earn themselves an invitation to the NFL combine. There, they prove that they are truly elite athletes and are drafted to one of the 32 NFL teams. So, would now be the best time to tell these young men that everything they have worked for throughout their entire lives is a sham? Sure a few would stick around for the money, but if this really were the case, every year, top NFL prospects would quit football when they found out that they spent their lives dreaming of becoming part of a lie.

Since the first NFL game was played, countless fantastic plays that leave fans in a state of disbelief have been made. These plays are so completely unpredictable and mind boggling, that no player is good enough to create one of them on command. The players react to their surroundings and rely on their instincts to make big plays, not a script. They are simply too spectacular to plan. If the league was actually staged players would need to be great athletes, but even better actors to make it in the NFL.

Millions of people everywhere love the NFL. They look up to and idolize the players. They spend millions of dollars every year on game tickets and merchandise every year. They even destroyed an entire city in the honor of their team’s first super bowl victory. Why do they love it so much, one may ask? People love the NFL for the excitement in the air before kickoff. They love it for the awe that takes over their minds after watching a human being make a superhuman play. They love it for the way an overtime win  unites fans from all walks of life. But most importantly, people love the NFL because it is 100% real entertainment.