Last week, the cooler temperatures had me thinking of fall and inevitably, football.

While I am anxious to see where the Pirates finish in the standings and hope to be excited about October baseball for the first time in 21 years, I can’t lie: football is my passion.

Reasons for this go far beyond the fact that over the last two decades, the Steelers have made the playoffs 14 times, been to four Super Bowls and won two of them, while the Pirates have, at best, been mediocre.

Sure, it helps when the team you are rooting for does well, but there are several variables that lead to my opinion that action on the gridiron is better than that on the diamond.

Less is more — The Pirates recently played a five-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Just about everyone, from the players to the managers to the announcers and writers who were covering the game, reminded fans that the series, while important, was not pivotal. They reasoned that since the Buccos had nine games remaining against the Cardinals following the five-game set, it wasn’t going to be make-or-break for either team. Pirate fans have waited for so long to get excited about late-season baseball and they were being told, ‘Don’t get too excited.’

The worst part is that those telling fans to calm down were right. Pittsburgh won four of the five games, yet could still very easily lose the division to St. Louis.

In football, there is a sense of urgency every week. A long losing streak often kills a team’s playoff chances. Lose four straight in baseball, there’s 158 contests left to right the ship. Lose four straight in the NFL and your playoff hopes are on life support.

The World Series is a best-of-7 format and the vast majority of the time, it does not reach a seventh game. In the last 15 seasons, only three Fall Classics have gone the distance.

But the Super Bowl gives fans, in effect, a Game 7 every year. Sure, sometimes the game is a blowout, but baseball has had its share of 4-0 sweeps in the World Series (six in the past 15 years).

I am intrigued by a championship game in which both teams have to perform in a do-or-die situation.

Mother Nature — I love it when weather, be it snow or rain, influences a football game. Let’s see which team can better handle the conditions.

You attend a baseball game and it starts raining with the score 3-1 after five innings of play. You find cover near the concession stands and wait for 90 minutes, only to be told to go home because the game is over. There’s something wrong with that scenario.

It’s like paying for a ticket to the movies and being told to leave an hour into it.

Go Bucs, and bring on the Steelers!

Derek Pyda is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.