Well, it's happened. Pigs have flown, the oceans have caught aflame, George W is a great public speaker, and I care about football.
It truly makes no sense. I'm supposed to hate football. It's like a fundamental element of who I am. It's pretty much widely known that Mags loves depressing music, bohemian fashion trends, ice cream and dogs, while she hates most words that begin with a hard "p" sound, Star Trek, and - above all else - football. It's confusing, slow, violent, testosterone-driven, and looks like it smells - all adjectives that usually turn me off.
I come from a family of die-hard OSU fans, and I suppose it's that vehement adoration of something I have little to no understanding of that laid the groundwork for my intense dislike of football. (And I mean absolutely no offense to OSU fans. I suppose had my family been intense Iowa fans it would have born the same result. But...perhaps not. After all, OSU fans are a special breed.) Growing up, watching football always sort of made me feel like a person with dyslexia trying to read a Joseph Conrad novel - it's cute that I tried but it just wasn't going to happen - so I threw football in the "it just ain't for me" category and have rolled my eyes at it ever since.
And then I joined a fantasy football league.
I admit that I staunchly resisted this at first. My knowledge of the sport can be contained in my little finger, and I figured that I would be the least competitive person on the league. I might as well give my friends $5 a piece and save myself the trouble. But, eventually, I submitted - mostly because I there was a slight possibility that I could make money and I was assured that I wouldn't have to actually watch football if I didn't want to.
So I came up with a silly team name, drafted a bunch of players I had never heard of but apparently have infamous reputations (Really? No one else was willing to take a risk on T.O.?), and sort of forgot about the whole thing until yesterday.
It started slowly. I alternated between watching and zoning out into space while my friends watched the first games of the season, but pretty soon I was starting to wonder how my players were doing. Of course, I had to look them all up because I had little concept of who they were or what team they played for, but...whatever. Sunday night, I even passed up The Simpsons for watching The Giants and The Patriots. (True, I didn't watch for long, but the fact that I made that initial choice speaks for itself.) I've lost my first match-up (Carrie's untouchable, apparently), but that's okay. When my kids walked into my classroom this morning before first hour talking about the Lion's last minute loss against the Seahawks I actually knew what they were talking about.
And I didn't roll my eyes - not once, not even when one of them said that Central Michigan looked better than Ohio State - because I knew what the hell they were talking about. I was a member of the club, a football dyslexic no more, and it felt unexpectedly nice.
It truly makes no sense. I'm supposed to hate football. It's like a fundamental element of who I am. It's pretty much widely known that Mags loves depressing music, bohemian fashion trends, ice cream and dogs, while she hates most words that begin with a hard "p" sound, Star Trek, and - above all else - football. It's confusing, slow, violent, testosterone-driven, and looks like it smells - all adjectives that usually turn me off.
I come from a family of die-hard OSU fans, and I suppose it's that vehement adoration of something I have little to no understanding of that laid the groundwork for my intense dislike of football. (And I mean absolutely no offense to OSU fans. I suppose had my family been intense Iowa fans it would have born the same result. But...perhaps not. After all, OSU fans are a special breed.) Growing up, watching football always sort of made me feel like a person with dyslexia trying to read a Joseph Conrad novel - it's cute that I tried but it just wasn't going to happen - so I threw football in the "it just ain't for me" category and have rolled my eyes at it ever since.
And then I joined a fantasy football league.
I admit that I staunchly resisted this at first. My knowledge of the sport can be contained in my little finger, and I figured that I would be the least competitive person on the league. I might as well give my friends $5 a piece and save myself the trouble. But, eventually, I submitted - mostly because I there was a slight possibility that I could make money and I was assured that I wouldn't have to actually watch football if I didn't want to.
So I came up with a silly team name, drafted a bunch of players I had never heard of but apparently have infamous reputations (Really? No one else was willing to take a risk on T.O.?), and sort of forgot about the whole thing until yesterday.
It started slowly. I alternated between watching and zoning out into space while my friends watched the first games of the season, but pretty soon I was starting to wonder how my players were doing. Of course, I had to look them all up because I had little concept of who they were or what team they played for, but...whatever. Sunday night, I even passed up The Simpsons for watching The Giants and The Patriots. (True, I didn't watch for long, but the fact that I made that initial choice speaks for itself.) I've lost my first match-up (Carrie's untouchable, apparently), but that's okay. When my kids walked into my classroom this morning before first hour talking about the Lion's last minute loss against the Seahawks I actually knew what they were talking about.
And I didn't roll my eyes - not once, not even when one of them said that Central Michigan looked better than Ohio State - because I knew what the hell they were talking about. I was a member of the club, a football dyslexic no more, and it felt unexpectedly nice.
3 Comments:
I too, have now become obsessed with football. I believe Steve may have created monsters. I guess it's been building for a while- I was much more tolerant of football last year, but it was always more college than NFL. I watched like, what, 4, 5 NFL games this weekend? That's just pure craziness!
Anyway, sorry (but not really) for kicking your ass this week. I root for you in most situations, you know! (Except this week again. Sorry, there's money involved, and I don't think you're going to split your winnings with me!)
So, does this mean you help me root for State over U of M after Wilco??
The Giants played the Colts, not the Patriots, but you know...baby steps. :)
Oh dear, there goes all my football street cred. They both have blue uniforms! Don't they? Maybe not...
And Carrie - money isn't on the line with college ball so I'm yet to really care about those games, but I would always pick State over U of M. There's absolutely no question about that.
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