Pigskin
By: Peggy Willms
(3 min. read)
This evening, the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 58, and I am hoping by midnight, the outcome will be the same as when they faced each other in 2020. Go, Chiefs.
I woke up this morning thinking for the first time I really “want” to watch the game. Even though I understand the rules and have attended my share of Super Bowl parties, it was always more for the “social” game. Yes, I want to see Mahomes do his magic but also want to witness a bit of the Swiftie hoopla. OMG, I am one of “those!”
It’s not because I love Taylor’s music. I am a sucker for a love story, and I think it is hilarious that everyone has their panties in a wad about it.
So I dove into Mr. Google this morning as I smelled the chili bubbling in the crock pot that has simmered all night. After doing some poking around, I learned the prolated spheroid thrown around the field was never made of pigskin.
The oldest football ever found was made in the 1540s, found in 1981 at Stirling Castle in Scotland, and was made from a pig’s bladder covered with pieces of deer leather – not pig skin. (I may be the only person in the world who didn’t know this.).[1]
The earliest games of football featured mobs from opposing villages attempting to kick an inflated pig bladder into the balcony of their opponents’ church! I would hope in these modern times, we would be more worried about the organ tossing than if Taylor and Travis walk into the tunnel today holding hands. Not so sure!
Fast forward to today, football is more civil. The National Football League (NFL), which has been in commission since 1922, with its first official organization game in 1933, now has 32 teams, each worth an average of $5.1 billion. The Dallas Cowboys take the lead with over $9.2 billion.[2]
I now bounce back to Taylor, and I must say I find many of the opinions about her shouted from around the globe frustrating and disappointing.
I ask you to put on your parental hat or, for that matter, your civil hat.
If I were her mom, I would be damn straight proud of this 33-year-old, a 5’11” law-abiding citizen who has busted her ass writing and singing her songs since she was 14. Her net worth is over $1.1 billion. She pays taxes, has avoided jail and rehab, has long-term relationships, and just received Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Hello, people. College courses are now discussing her business model.
She just booked 146 tours on five continents with $2.2 billion in ticket sales in the US alone ($13 million in sales PER NIGHT) and released a tour movie with pre-sale tickets of $100 million.[3] Again, let me remind you – she pays taxes.
In my opinion, the world has bigger fish to fry than worrying about whether she sits in a private box at today’s game with her potential future mother-in-law, how much she has bolstered the NFL’s bottom line, or whether she helped Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason, get a few more followers on their new podcast.
I think we should be asking ourselves, “Why are we so hung up on others being happy and how their business is booming at a time when it simply sucks out there in the world?”
Slurp a bowl of chili today, avoid judgment, and thank the Lord, no one throws around pig bladders anymore. And if none of that sounds good, go shopping with your girlfriend.
[1] https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/are-footballs-really-made-of-pigskin
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_National_Football_League
[3] https://rapidcityjournal.com/opinion/article_3ed077fa-3745-5f39-8222-8d021314e371.html
Peggy Willms
All Things Wellness, LLC
peggy@allthingswellness.com
The information provided is the opinion of the author. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice: diagnosis or treatment. The author, the business, All Things Wellness, LLC, and its owner Peggy Willms, are not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this article or website. We assume no responsibility for tangible and intangible damages such as physical harm caused by using a product, loss of profits or loss of data, and defamatory comments. This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases.
