As for the importance of our respective footballs, is the championship game of your football season essentially a national holiday?
Essentially, yes. It is an event that even if you are uninterested in the event itself, you often find yourself at a watching party (many go just to watch the advertisements during breaks). In some areas, local churches either close for the afternoon/evening or arrange for public viewing licenses to serve the community. Restaurants that might not normally be considered sports bars suddenly have televisions and local electronics stores tend to make adjustments to their returns policies for large tv sets at this time of year. The winning team usually gets a parade in its own city (a more official holiday).
(1) The river is flooding a bit
(2) The material used to keep the flood away from dangerous radioactive goo (tm) has partially failed
(3) No one is in the least concerned about the river flooding enough to actually get at the dangerous radioactive goo
(4) The news needed something to report on that might cause public concern and attention to their channel
(5) Stating that there was no concern about the river getting at the radioactive goo will immediately cause some people to be concerned that the river might get at the radioactive goo
(6) If the river somehow magically got at the radioactive goo, the river would become somewhat radioactive but though a lot of problems might result for local waterlife, it would all wash out in the end.
Happiness is twin floppies.