As I vegged out on my couch watching NFL football all day on Sunday, it struck me that this was the best part of my week. I was in a happy place. Why? Well, it certainly wasn't because of the game that was on the screen in front of me.

The NFL is the most popular sport in North America, and I believe I've finally figured out why. Here are the 3 simple reasons:

1. The Beer:Sports Ratio

When watching a riveting game like hockey or basketball, a spectator is glued to the game. A quick look down to dip your nacho or take a swig of beer can be disastrous, causing you to miss a key moment or a highlight reel play. So we wait. We wait until whistles, timeouts, commercial breaks – those 30 second breaks where we can quickly munch our hot dogs and wash it down with beer – and then it's back to business, back to the game.

If you don't see where this is going, let me explain: what's the average length of a play in football? 10 seconds? That's being generous. That's a long bomb touchdown pass from Payton Manning to Austin Collie including the 10 yard run into the end zone. Football is actually the reverse of all other sports – the gameplay simply serves as a timeout from the drinking. And boy do North Americans love their drinking.

2. It's all a ruse!

"Sorry Honey, we can't go shopping for new duvet covers today, even though I know we need them. I'm watching sports with the guys."

Sure you are, you average North American male. What a great excuse to sit around with the boys, shooting the shit, drinking, and doing nothing. On Sundays, we return to our days of college bliss – back when we had hours to waste away and no one nagging us to do errands. Female readers: disregard this paragraph, please.

Let's be honest – of the NFL games we watch, how many do we really care about? Oh sure, we've all picked a team we claim to follow, and we cheer louder when they make a good play, but do we really care at the end of the day? Cowboys fans are a dime a dozen, but there are probably 10,000 die-hard fans whose mood will still be affected that night if they lose. Most football fans only care because they've got money on some outcome. They're not upset or excited about the SCORE, they're getting emotional over the money!

3. A Gambler's Paradise

Which brings us to the last point: there are a million things to bet on in a football game, and boy do we take advantage of them. Who will win the coin toss, who will score the first touchdown, what will the score be at the end of the first quarter, who will make the first sack, the possibilities are endless in this game. When we're hooting and hollering in front of the set, it's because we're either making money or losing money. We don't care that much about the teams! Why is it not the same when we're watching hockey? There's no time for bets! We can barely make it to the bathroom and back during a commercial break, let alone propose a bet, decide on odds, decide on the wager, and shake on it.

So there you go – when it comes to competing with the NFL juggernaut in North America, other sports are quite simply out of their league.

Since Mats Sundin arrived in Vancouver in early January, we’ve heard all sorts of criticism directed towards him. Such comments as:

“Sundin was invisible once again tonight.”

“His age is showing through that laboured skating stride.”

“Sundin isn’t the same dominant player he was in Toronto.”

“He’s a shadow of his former self.”

For all Mats Sundin doesn’t bring to the team with his game on the ice, he makes up for it in spades with what he brings to the Canucks’ locker room. Think of it like this: have you ever in your life said “no” to your grandfather? Isn’t there something about the wrinkles and lines on his face; the way you can see the vein on his left temple throbbing when he’s giving an order that makes you instantly stand to attention?

What if one day you witnessed old granddad drop the cane, running off to play hockey against people half his age? Seeing him taking hit after hit and skating as hard as his old legs would allow – even if his speed was a joke to you – wouldn’t you be inspired to play your hardest?

So Mats addresses his teammates in his stern accented English: “Come on guys, let’s play hard” (he is a man of few words). If you’re young Alex Burrows or Mason Raymond, you’re sitting there wide-eyed, nodding furiously, hoping he doesn’t cuff you upside the head. You go out there and you play hard, like he asked, thinking he will notice and hopefully not cuff you upside the head when you return to the bench.

To Ryan Kesler, who is lucky enough to play on the same line, he says, “Young man, I will win the faceoff. You take the puck and shoot.” This is for a defensive zone faceoff. And Kesler, being a good kid, takes the puck end-to-end and scores half the time. No wonder he’s had such an offensive boost since Sundin’s arrival. No wonder, really, that the Canucks are a better team with the addition of this plodding, grizzled old man.