Would sumo wrestlers be considered athletes? Just asking.

I've thought for a long time that we should get rid of football as our "national favorite sport", and get into soccer. Most other civilized countries are in on it, and we should follow suit. You will never see a fat ass soccer player.

YEAH! Plus all those 0-0 ties are sure to win over tons of fans!

On the plus side, it would finally give the beer, auto, & fast food industries that long sought-for opportunity to smack their logos directly onto the player's uniforms...

Charles, when I look for an authority on who and who isn't an athlete I'll usually look to someone who knows nothing about sports.

See, that's kind of like looking for a good band to check out and reading Megan Selig's suggestions.

The reason NFLers are so fat is because, like sumo wrestlers, they need the weight.

They are in fact outstanding athletes under the fat. But when you have all that padding, you need to be able to bring the sheer weight with you to make an impact, as it were.

Also, since they stop every ten seconds or so, the linemen don't need to have stamina, unlike your rugby league fellow there (or rugby union, a different game).

Of course, the weight is contributory to the health problems endemic to NFLers -- heart problems, knee problems, ankle problems.

As is running as fast as one can into another 250lb man running as fast as he can, repeatedly, for 3 hours every week.

That's what I mean -- it's the padding which both allows and requires the weight, which is what makes the impacts so severe. Though it's a bit much to characterize it as "3 hours" -- a football game is mostly down time, with far fewer plays than a supposedly slow-moving baseball game.