No it wouldn't. Sweeping can be all-inclusive, but it can also mean covering a wide-range. My interpretation of "a lot" is that it acts synonymously to "the majority", maybe others didn't read it like that... I took it as the implication, or what would be the point in saying it? The guy who posted it was going for an effect, he was trying to point out that he thinks the “emphasis people put on football in their lives is worrying in comparison to other more important stuff”… people in general, not the odd bloke in the street, if he’d said, “the odd bloke takes football too seriously” it wouldn’t have the same effect. He’s entitled to his opinion of course, I just think that what he actually said is a bit ‘let’s hit football fans with the idiot stick’ and that isn’t fair.
As for the emphasis put on football (Dirk) I can see your point, but I don't think it's such a big deal. Football is a release. You go to watch a match and, as a football fan, you're in the moment. That doesn't mean it's the primary concern in your life though. I know for me there are things that are more important than football, things that I'd miss a game for, I know that's the same for the people I go with, for other people I talk to about the match. To me, football is exciting, gripping, emotional... but it's in the moment, you cry your eyes out at relegation, it makes you feel down, but it won't stop you going to work or school the next day like any other day. It won’t stop you kissing your kids goodnight. On the terraces we joke that it’s a drug, that we can’t stop punishing ourselves, but that’s what it is a joke. We can get very involved with football, we can really care about our teams, about being part of that community, but as long as we realise there’s more to life why is it such a big deal? Your comment made it sound like people are picking football over politics, or, football over more important things. Why does it have to be a choice? Why can’t people have both the football and the things society in general considers important?
Now, as for overpaid and over-hyped footballers go, that is annoying (if that‘s the right word for it). It’s killing football as it really was and really should be… people buying hats and scarves doesn’t really fund big wages, those of us who support struggling lower clubs know that there just aren’t enough people to buy enough hats and scarves. The thing that forces high wages isn’t the fans buying merchandise, it’s competition at the top… it filters down and clubs end up having to pay money to compete or die… and then when they pay the money to compete and it doesn’t come off they start to die anyway… it’s not the best being down there. Football would be much more enjoyable without the money worries, then we could concentrate on what goes on on the pitch, not the financial crises off it.