This is about the real kind, not American.
Football is probably the best metaphor for life that exists in the sports world. Or, at least, it’s the one I’ve thought most about. For 90 minutes, players run, defend, find holes, and attempt to score. Compared to other sports, scoring is rare, but is generally well deserved and highly celebrated (check out this awesome celebration from Icelandic football).
The point is life is full of struggles. Often those struggles can go on without any sight of success. You may be making great runs into open space, but the passes aren’t finding you. You could be under an onslaught from FC Barcelona and barely keep your head above water defending.
Sometimes the struggles pay off; sometimes you can knick the ball into the back of the net and celebrate three lucky points away. Other times, you knock the ball into the back of your own net and give up three points at home in the 95th minute.
Football encompasses the ups and downs of life. It takes struggles we face over months, years, or a lifetime and puts them on a pitch, in a way we can understand, for 90 minutes. Learning life lessons from each game I watch is what I’m grateful for. Sometime I win, sometimes I lose; sometimes I’m promoted, sometimes I’me relegated; but there’s always another game to play.
The choice we make is how we play it.