Baseball is known as the national pastime, but it’s been clear for decades that football is No. 1 in the hearts of Americans.

Rapper Pusha T likes to say that “neck and wrist don’t lie,” meaning that if someone is sporting expensive jewelry, their wealth is undeniable. Well, when it comes to sports, TV ratings and revenue don’t lie.

The Super Bowl draws about 10 times as many viewers as a World Series game. The one-game format accounts for some of that, but not nearly all of it. The closest thing baseball has to a Super Bowl is a World Series Game 7, but even those draw only about a quarter of what a Super Bowl does.

Even Sunday, Monday and now Thursday night NFL games draw far more viewers than a World Series game. The NFL’s national television contracts are worth more than six times what MLB’s are worth annually, despite football having far less inventory to offer the networks.

That massive advantage in amount of content — MLB’s regular season contains 2,430 games, the NBA’s 1,230 and the NFL’s just last season increased to 272 — means that ticket sales make overall revenue a closer race, but the NFL is still king by far. Its total annual revenue is about $18 billion, while baseball brings in about $11 billion per year and basketball about $10 billion.

I grew up in a baseball house. My father is from the Boston area and left to join the military before the Patriots existed and before Bill Russell (RIP) led the Celtics to their run of titles. I’ve also been a Celtics and Patriots fan for as long as I can remember, but the Red Sox — and baseball — were unquestionably No. 1.

As I got older, I realized that football was far more popular. I’m sure there are many reasons for this, but the hot take I had in my head was that it was because of gambling.

Football is easy to gamble on, and there are many ways to do it — from traditional bets against a point spread to parlays to Super Bowl favorites like props and squares.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting four years ago, the number of states where it is permitted has grown to more than 30, with several more likely to OK it in the next couple of years.

Nothing is imminent in Hawaii, but for fans who want to spice up their interest in the games without breaking the law, there are some options, and not just fantasy football. Several websites — Yahoo, ESPN and Run Your Pool among them — run contests that anyone can play with their friends. Whether you choose to put money or something else on the line is up to you, but with the NFL season barely a month away, I thought I’d share some of the games that have made the season more fun for me the past several years.

>> Survival/knockout pools — I first heard about these more than 20 years ago when I was working in California, and they have become more and more popular.

The basic idea is that each entrant picks one team to win its game that week. No point spread involved. Just win, baby. Sound easy? It’s not. I’ve been playing for more than a decade, and it seems like every year at least half the field is out by the end of Week 2. Rarely do I see one of these contests last to the playoffs.

There are some variations that can make the contest even more interesting, such as not allowing repeat picks (once you use the Rams or Chiefs, you can’t use them again) or offering a chance to buy back in (for games where there’s money or something else on the line).

The beauty of this game is its simplicity. No spreads to look up. Just see who’s playing and who you think is (almost) guaranteed to win that week.

This game is available for free, with prizes, at many sports gaming sites, but you can also set up your own to play with friends at Run Your Pool or other sites. Some of those charge a hosting fee.

>> Wins pools — This game is as simple as the survival pool, but what’s so appealing about it is its “set it and forget it” format. Entrants draft NFL teams (Packers, Raiders, etc.) before the season, and whoever’s teams total the most wins is champion. So there’s no work to do week to week, unless one person wants to track the totals and keep everyone updated.

Anywhere from two to 16 players can play this one, but something in the middle is ideal. And it doesn’t have to be four or eight to make sure all 32 teams get picked. I first heard of this from Bill Simmons when he ran the ESPN-hosted Grantland website, and his pool had 10 entrants, with each person getting three teams and two teams going unpicked.

The one complicated part can be grouping each person’s sets of picks so that they are fairly equitable. With four, five or eight entrants, you can use the fantasy-standard serpentine pattern, but for other numbers, you’ll need to do some math. Simmons’ Grantland picks order is still easy to find on the internet if you have 10 entrants. It also serves as a template for other size leagues, but if you need help with this, email me at my address at the end of the column and I’ll do my best to help.

This game can also be fun in other sports. I’ve played it with the NBA but could see it for MLB or any sport really.

>> Pick ‘ems — These games can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be. The simplest, I suppose, would be to pick winners in all the games, with no point spreads. But there are variations you can use if you prefer — picking against the spread or incorporating confidence points (ranking your picks in order of how sure you are of them), for example.

My favorite option is modeled after the Super Contest run for nearly 20 years now by the Westgate resort (previously the Las Vegas Hilton) in Las Vegas. Entrants pick five games against the spread each week and are awarded a point for each win and half a point for each push. Whoever has the most points at the end of the season wins.

Of the three contests I’m mentioning, this one probably takes the most skill. It certainly takes the most effort. When I’ve played in this pool, I sometimes labored over my picks.

All three, though, have greatly increased my enjoyment of the NFL season. I hope they can do the same for you.