If there is one thing Americans from every region, income bracket, ethnic group and political persuasion have done in unison in recent days, it is watch football -- a true common denominator of our culture.

More than any other game, football illustrates our virtues as a people, reflecting our national identity and values. That is why so many young men in this country grow up learning more on the football field than they ever do in the classroom -- and to point this out is not to say something shameful about our national priorities or indict either football or classroom learning. It is simply to acknowledge that football's unique combination of physical strife and tactical maneuvering challenges both the character and the intellect in a way few classrooms can.

Perhaps the most important value football can remind Americans of today is justice.

Americans love football because it rewards those who deserve to be rewarded. It does this because its rules are well known, commonsensical, and unchanging during any particular game and season, and also because what it takes to win in football transcends the natural physical talents of those who play it.

Just as the kid who never graduates from high school can end up being the largest employer in town, so the kid who is too slow to run track and too short to play basketball can became the fullback who is too hard to tackle -- especially when it is fourth and one and the game is on the line.

Just as a partnership of neighborhood plumbers can make millions through hard work and thrift while Wall Street hedge funds go bankrupt through negligence and greed, so, too, a team of lesser athletes that fights harder and devises a better game plan can defeat a faster and bigger yet undisciplined team when they meet face-to-face on the gridiron.

It happens all the time.

It is why Americans are always ready to bet on their own team even when their team is the underdog -- maybe especially when their team is the underdog. Continued...