Is Football a Sport or a Metaphor?

Given the interminable hype and gaudy excess that was Super Bowl XLIV (half-a-billion television viewers worldwide, a telephone-book-size media guide, 30-second commercials costing $3 million each, a halftime show featuring legendary rock group the Who), we almost forgot that what we were watching wasn’t a coronation or moon landing, but a football game.
Compare Sunday’s extravaganza with Super Bowl I, way back in 1967. This was before it was even called that, before Kansas City Chief owner Lamar Hunt coined the term “Super Bowl.” The first one was called simply, “The First AFL vs. NFL World Championship Game,” and fe....