Which Sport is Truly America's Pastime?

I've talked before about how sports is one thing that can bring people together no matter their walk of life. They can also spark debates and cause people to hate each other, it just depends on how level headed you are or who you root for. One debate that pops up frequently is which sport is America's pastime. Baseball has always been called the national pastime due to it being one of the oldest recognized professional sports in America. Things have changed over the years though. Baseball is no longer the most popular sport in the United States. Football and basketball have caught and surpassed baseball as the most popular sport. There is no way to truly analyze what America's pastime is. We could look at figures of the most views on television or take a poll of the what fans favorite sport is, but America's pastime is different than the most popular sport.

To me, pastimes are what the countries are known for or any region or location. In this discussion, we're only going to deal with sports. Japan and the Caribbean Islands' pastimes are baseball, Europe's is soccer, and Canada's is hockey. Every country has their own pastime, but what is America's. People will say it is baseball, but when people think of an American sport, they think of football. Football has been the most popular sport for a while now and baseball has been declining. I am an avid baseball fan and would like to think baseball is still the most popular sport, but I know that is not true. Football is now the sport that people think of when they think of Americans, so is it considered the pastime? Yes, I believe so. Baseball will always be called the nation's pastime because it has carried the label for so many years, but it really is not. Football is the most popular sport and is not going away any time soon.