We just returned from our friendly neighborhood bar/pizza joint/coffeehouse/live music venue, where I got a latte and a slice of chocolate cake to go (I may end up eating most of that for breakfast tomorrow… yeah, that’s right – I eat cake for breakfast now and then… so sue me…), and Rick got an espresso milkshake. And now, as I sip my latte and write a few paragraphs for my blog, I can hear Rick yelling at the television in the other room… and I’m reminded of one thing – it’s football season again.
Tonight is the University of Texas/Ohio State game, which is a very big deal here in Austin. It’s the number one team against the number two team – and Texans don’t necessarily like coming in second. (Which is quite apparent by the loud chatter from the other room – there’s nobody in there but Rick… I think he just called one of the UT players “baby”… that’s a little bit weird…) But it’s not looking good for Texas right now… they’re down 17-7.
I actually never really liked football when I was growing up. I never even watched it until my senior year in high school, when my school’s football team was undefeated and I went to a couple games with friends. But even then – when we’d huddle under blankets on cold metal bleachers in the middle of November, yelling and stomping our feet to keep warm – I really had no idea what was going on. I knew it was a good thing when the ball made it to the end zone, but that was about the extent of my football knowledge.
And then I got married… and as many a wife has discovered, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t enjoy football – your husband WILL watch it anyway. It’s all part of that “you can’t change someone” package. So I had two choices – one was to always find something else to do when a football game was on, and to never attend a Super Bowl party, and to roll my eyes at the TV whenever I heard the words “first down” or “personal foul.” Or, my second choice was to actually figure out what a first down WAS. So I went for choice number two – I started watching games with Rick, and asking him to explain to me what was going on.
And I soon discovered that the more I understood the game, the more I LIKED the game. It was no wonder I’d been so disinterested when I was younger – without any knowledge of what was going on, football looked like a bunch of guys randomly running around in circles. But as I learned more about it, it began to look like a bunch of guys running around in circles with a PURPOSE. So these days, I don’t mind at all when a big game is on – I even enjoy the idea of grilling up fajitas, setting out bowls of chips and salsa, and inviting some people over to watch all those guys running around (with a purpose).
Of course, football has one major drawback -- no Derek Jeter. So I’ll still be sad once baseball season is over… :)
1 comment:
That game was disappointing on SOOO many levels... not to mention UT is #8 in the country now.
I've decided the problem with the UT football program isn't the players, it's the offensive coordinator. If I see one more screen pass I may have to drive down to campus and slap the offensive coordinator upside the head...
The only reason UT won last year is that we had a QB able to take the game into his own hands and win it...without regard to what the offensive coordinator wanted to do. I miss Vince Young...
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