Hurrah! It’s Time for Football

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

   Ladies and Gentlemen, I have but one thing to ask you right now, “Are you ready for some football?”  I have to admit that, as a child, I would not have given a resounding, “Yes,” to that question.  My father and brothers loved watching football.  Every Saturday and Sunday  afternoon, they would prop themselves in front of our only television and watch one football game after another.  I thought they were being ridiculous.  How could anyone want to sit there for hours and watch some grown men throw a pigskin ball around a field; then jump on one another and try to take the ball away.  To me, this was absurd.  I could certainly think of better ways to spend my weekends, like playing dolls with my sister, cards with my mother, or walking down the street to my friends house.

   Who cared that Walter Camp was an important man and helped develop American football in the 1880’s?  Who cared that there was a player named William “Pudge” Heffelfinger who became the first known professional football player in 1892?  Football began to grow.  It was gaining popularity.  By the time television came along, it became one of the most popular televised events in the Untied States, annually.  Certainly, not me, not at that time, but my dad cared.  Football was something that he thoroughly enjoyed.  He would jump up and yell, double up his fist and then cheer whenever hs favorite team made a touchdown.

   Maybe one of the reasons that I didn’t care about football, was because my mom didn’t care.  She never took the time to understand the game.  She didn’t want to.  Football was a “man thing”, and she didn’t have to like it.  So, she busied herself with the things that she liked to do, and as soon as our family could afford it, another television was bought and placed in the dining room.  From that time on, my mother sat at the dining room table watching, as she called them, “her shows”, and now we had two televisions on every weekend. 

   The years went by and I still didn’t care for football.  I didn’t care that  there was a great quarter back in the 1960’s named Bart Starr, or that there was a great wide receiver named Lynn Swann, in the 1970’s.  Neither did I care that there were great players in the 1980’s named Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Walter Payton, or Reggie White.  All of these men are now in the Football Hall of Fame.

   Then along comes the 1990’s and I am in my second marriage.  My husband loves football.  Now what am I going to do?  I certainly did not want to be like my mother, separated from my dad by televisions showing two different programs.  I decided that I wanted to learn what football was all about.  I wanted to be able to sit beside my husband and enjoy the game as much as he did.  Therefore, I had better know what was going on, why this happened, how come this went on, what does that mean?  I made my husband expain every little detail of the game, and I found that I was getting excited about watching the games with him.  I was looking forward to Monday Night Football and football on the weekends, both college and professional.  Wow!  What a change had taken place in me.  I was loving the game.  Now I have favorite teams and favorite players.  I loved Reggie White of the Green Bay Packers and was very sad at his passing.  I loved watching Barry Sanders from the Detroit Lions run, and boy could he ever run. 

   My favorite teams are the Pittsburg Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, and the New York Giants.  Please don’t get affended if I didn’t name your team.  I like watching the Manning Brothers play football.  Payton and Eli, you two are great quarterbacks.  I loved coaches Bill Cower, Tony Dungey, and Mike Shanahan.  None come better in my opinion.  I used to really like the Green Bay Packers and the Lambaugh Leap, but Brett Farve left there and now plays for the Minnesota Vikings.  We’ll see how he does after leaving the New York Jets this past year.

   The Super Bowl around my house is like another holiday.  We have a big feasty celebration.  I whoop and holler, and get off my feet, just as much as my husband does.  Sometimes even more.  I love the game.  Maybe my husband has created a football monster because I am definetely addicted to the game.  So, I ask again, “Ladies and Gentlemen, are you ready for some football?”