Actually, at least in the US, physics is funded because of things like the atomic bomb and the transistor, as GP points out. Observe the rhetoric of any congres

Actually, at least in the US, physics is funded because of things like the atomic bomb and the transistor, as GP points out. Observe the rhetoric of any congress member. They don't care if physics is "cool", any more than the general public probably does. Football isn't funded by the federal government at all, so your point about national security is just silly.