If you watch situation comedies, the one thing that you will notice, or at least should notice, is that situation comedies make fun of real life situations. That's why they're funny, because they're all about things we can relate to. On an episode of "Home Improvement" Jill asks Tim if he's ready to go with her to some party. He replies by telling her he has to watch the game. Jill, seeing that he had just finished watching a game, says to him that she thought he had just done that. Tim's reply is, "That was the game BEFORE the big game".

Yes, America is obsessed with sports. It doesn't matter what the sport is even. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, horse racing, you name it. If there is some kind of sporting event on the tube, you're typical American male can be seen sitting in front of that tube, remote in one hand and a cold beer in the other. And if you think that sounds like a situation comedy, then you haven't been to a typical American home with a wife, a husband and 2.5 children. It is more typical than you can imagine. That's why many American homes have more than one TV. The wife will lock herself inside one room watching her soaps, while the kids have a TV in their room to watch cartoons and the husband has his big screen TV all to himself to watch, well, whatever sporting event he can find.

And it doesn't even matter what time of year it is. There is ALWAYS something on the tube to watch. In the spring, summer and fall there is Major League Baseball. In the summer, fall and part of winter there's Professional Football. In the fall, winter and spring there is Pro Basketball and Pro Hockey. In the spring and summer there is the PGA tour. In fall, winter and spring there is the PBA tour. In the fall and spring there is horse racing. The list goes on and on. You can't turn on your TV set one day out of the 365 that science has given us without seeing something that resembles a sporting event.

The question we need to ask and answer if possible, is why? Why are American men so obsessed with sports? Many psychologists feel it is simply a male macho thing, to put it in layman's terms. The American male is so insecure about his own masculinity that he feels the only way to show the world that he is indeed a man is by watching sports. Some men take this to extremes in that they will only watch sports that are considered "cool" sports or the ones that only "real" men watch. Football is right up at the top of this list because it is so violent. A man who sits in front of his TV with a beer watching a football game is a "real" man. Nobody would ever dispute that.

The truth is, nobody really knows why American men are so obsessed with sports. Maybe the answer is simpler than what we keep searching for.

Maybe they just like sports.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Sports Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell