Editor's note: This article appeared in the November 22, 2010, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.
With Thanksgiving just a few short days away, many Americans will resign to their tryptophan comas on the couch watching the country's most-beloved team on the football field. For the fourth year in a row, the Dallas Cowboys are the favorite team of adults who follow professional football, according to a September survey conducted by Rochester, N.Y., research company Harris Interactive. Conversely, the Jacksonville Jaguars are at the bottom of the list for the second year in a row. However, the consistency seen at the top and bottom of the rankings does not stretch across all 32 teams. In fact, Americans seem to be somewhat fickle and capricious in picking their favorites. (Editor's note: It will be interesting to see how the Cowboys' disappointing current 3-7 2010 record will, if at all, impact next year's rankings.)
Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts came in at No. 2, up from No. 4 last year while the Green Bay Packers moved up three spots from from No. 6 to No. 3. Rounding out the top five favorite football teams are the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 4 (down from No. 2 in 2009) the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints, who jumped an impressive 19 spots to No. 5, indicating that past-season performance and success in post-season play can have a positive lingering effect on fans going into the next season.
While the Saints' jump was the biggest move, other movement includes the following: the Seattle Seahawks dropped 17 places on the list from a tie for No. 14 in 2009 to No. 31 this year; the Tennessee Titans dropped 12 places from No. 9 to a tie for No. 21; the Baltimore Ravens moved up seven places to No. 19; and two teams moved up six places each - the St. Louis Rams to No. 24 and the Houston Texans to a tie at No. 17.
It may not be America's pastime, but Thanksgiving Day and Sunday afternoons in the fall just wouldn't be the same for a majority of Americans without football on television. Over half of Americans say they follow professional football, a slight increase from last year when 51 percent said the same. As might be expected, men are more likely than women to follow football (66 percent vs. 41 percent). Fifty-six percent of both Gen Xers (ages 34-45) and Baby Boomers (ages 46-64) say they follow football, compared to just under half Echo Boomers (ages 18-33) and Matures (ages 65+) who do.
Although just over half of Americans follow professional football, 62 percent say they like it. Over half say they like it because of the competition and rivalries while one-third say it is because of the athletic display. One-quarter say they like gathering with friends to watch games, and a similar percent like the strategy and intellectual components. Smaller numbers say they like professional football because of the fans and excitement (18 percent), the commercials on TV (7 percent) and the food and drink that go along with watching a game (6 percent).