•September 20, 2017•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

American football is at its zenith in terms of money and hype. The game dominates the airwaves on weekends, and now throughout the week as well. Big college programs are building Taj mahal-like locker rooms for their pampered, but unpaid, players. Katy, TX (pop. 14,000) just opened a $72 million high school stadium!

But under the glitzy surface, the game is apparently dying. Moms are killing it.

My local rural high school, long an area football powerhouse, mustered only seven freshmen for the team this fall. No more freshman football games. The local JFL program for peewees is way down as well.

Numbers turning out for football are down overall across the country in recent years, except in the South.

I come not to bury football, but to assess what is going on. Indeed, I couldn’t wait for the recent NFL Bears-Falcons opener. Watching a wide receiver leap improbably high to snag a 40-yard pass is indeed poetry in motion.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.