George Will: Super Bowl Curmudgeon

As long as I can remember, George Will’s response to any question about the Super Bowl on ABC’s This Week has been some variation on pointing out that baseball season is just around the corner. Given that Will has written several books on the game, and has been a regular presence at Nationals games since they came to Washington, this isn’t really a surprise. This year was no exception:

On Super Bowl Sunday, ABC’s George Will called football a “mistake” on the “This Week” roundtable.

“This is the second-highest calorie day in American life, second only to Thanksgiving, and people are betting and eating,” Will said. “Football, as I say, combines violence punctuated by committee meetings called huddles. It just replicates the worst aspect of American life.”

“That said, when it’s over, pitchers and catchers report in two weeks, and we can go back to reading the newspapers,” Will added.

After some prodding, Will guessed that the New York Giants would win the big game.

“I usually root for the team whose victory would make the most liberals unhappy,” he said, noting New England’s liberal population.

It’s nice to know some things never change, and that baseball season is just around the corner.

Here’s the video:

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. DRS says:

    Personally I think he’s just angling for the Nationals to invite him to throw the first pitch at the start of the season.

  2. Chris says:

    I believe Will has also written some positive columns about the Super Bowl noting it as a part of Americana. He usually notes the amount of tortilla chips and salsa we eat.

  3. Brett says:

    Eh, he’s a fan of baseball, America’s third favorite sport.

  4. Hey Norm says:

    I consider that on par with his opinions regarding AGW…totally misguided.

  5. Franklin says:

    Is New England more liberal than New York? I don’t know, I’m just asking.

    Also, none of this is much of a surprise. Baseball is a nice and slow game that old people like Will can keep up with. (No offense to old people at all … in fact my grandma was one of the biggest baseball fans I’ve ever known, and it was fun to share an interest in sports with her.)

  6. John H says:

    No offense taken. Clearly, watching football requires one to deploy the razor sharp wit and keen intellect possessed only by the young. Thankfully, coaching the game doesn’t seem to require them, so we have that refuge at least.

  7. John Burgess says:

    Baseball is just around the corner. I’ve already got my tickets for the BoSox-Orioles spring training games. Since the Orioles’ facilities are about 300 yards from my home, I could hardly pass them up. Box seats, just behind the plate–my choice–were $25 each. Also hard to pass up. The Orioles arrive this week and the training sessions are free.

    I do wish TV would get over its obsession with minor sports like hockey and basketball, though. I’m sure there must be some aspect of alien encounters or ghosts that it hasn’t covered to death.

  8. Tillman says:

    Boy, I wish baseball had even an ounce of competition between the different franchises. It’s not like I could take out a short list of five, six teams and throw darts to determine who makes the World Series.

  9. Gromitt Gunn says:

    I’m not surprised that Will hates football, since the NFL has the most socialist business structure of the major American sports organizations. Revenue sharing? Salary caps? Poppycock!