The introduction lays out the rising popularity of the football in the 60s. It was acclaimed as America’s new national pastime by observers as different as Gallup, Liberation News Service, Marshall McLuhan, and Richard Nixon. ““Baseball is what we were, football is what we have become,” remarked columnist Mary McGrory. Rather than settling for the appeal of its product, the NFL promoted football as quintessentially American and perfectly in tune with the contemporary world. This notion of football’s popularity led to its use in politics as both metaphor for achievement and means of reaching voters. The politics created by the league and aspiring politicians absolutely sold appearance, but we should consider their substantive aspects as well.
