Mr. President, don’t mess with football

The best time of the year for male college students begins at 8:30 p.m. today — the kickoff of the NFL season.

The 2010 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers will face the New Orleans Saints in the opening game.

Fans of the NFL tune in regardless of their allegiance, which leads to huge ratings. For many fans, watching the NFL’s opening game is like getting to open a Christmas present early — when you didn’t know if there would be football this year. Err, I mean Christmas.

Intrigue regarding the new season is at its highest, especially after the lockout. Fans who picked Michael Vick in their fantasy draft are happy Vick quit killing his dogs so he can help fans kill their opponents in fantasy league.

Or maybe they’re excited to finally find out if the Colts aren’t a five-win team without Peyton Manning, like he’s been saying for years. If you aren’t obsessed with the NFL, you should be.

Football is the American sport.

Actually, it’s so American that the President scheduled his televised speech to a joint session of Congress around the premier NFL game today.

Originally, President Barack Obama planned to give the speech about jobs in America the same day as the Republican candidates’ presidential debate. But because of the conflict, Obama’s address was moved back a day, as requested by House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH.

Somehow, someone decided to move it back a day without realizing they would then compete with the NFL opener.

Pandemonium struck the NFL fan base for a few days. Online message boards reacted like the stock market to the U.S. AA+ rating. Internet posters wanted answers: “Do we have to watch the President talk instead of football?!”

I can only assume that quote came from a 12-year-old with a 10 p.m. bedtime. I’m interested in what Obama has to say about unemployment. At the same time, I can’t deny I was a bit worried about missing the first touchdown scored this year.

This is football we are talking about, and I’ve had to deal with baseball highlights all summer. Besides, I can always watch Obama online tomorrow. Honestly, I’m also kind of interested to see how hard old age is hitting Kid Rock when he performs during the pregame concerts.

If you are a football fan and somehow missed this whole story, cool your jets. You will see the game. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney calmed the storm last week, assuring fans the speech would not conflict with the game.

He also added that President Obama will “have the opportunity to watch the game like millions of other Americans.”

And there it is: football is so big not even the President can miss the first game.

­— agreiner@indiana.edu