[Colonel Kangaroo]

More evidence of the character-building inherent in the sport. I grew up watching and playing it, so I’m an addict, but I’m not sure the nation wouldn’t be better off one day having baseball and basketball as the only national sports.

[RayChuang88]

I agree with your sentiments, but today the NFL playbook(s) have become so complex that NFL coaching staffs are looking for a LOT more intelligent players. Indeed, that's why NFL scouts are going a lot more to colleges like Stanford, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Duke, and so on, since they know players from these schools probably stand a better chance to master today's highly-complex playbooks. And football players who attend these schools are definitely way less of the "dumb jock" stereotype of the past, and tend to be more well-adjusted in terms of personal life.