Summary: <p>Football has a celebrated one-game format for playoff advancement, but that means gameplay doesn’t deliver a story like a seven-game series in baseball or hockey might. So, viewers are left to accept the story told about the game entirely outside of the game, and then burst with reaction relative to that story once the action begins. Fans get out of football only what they’re primed to expect–making the unexpected such an outsized feature of the experience. Baseball is enjoyable to a neutral observer, and withstands biased commentating. Happy New Year! This year, football still sucks!</p>
