Football??? Yes, American Football. A small little hidden passion that people from LiveJournal and Y!360 may already know a little about.
Let's start with the Elizabeth-American Football relationship history, shall we?
In my early years, my Mom (Marguerite) tried to instill in me nothing but the "finer things" in life. Music (of the classical variety), arts (of the black dress affair type), learning (higher education a must), and the written word. A little of what she taught exists still.
My Dad (Wayne) on the other hand, was about the land, fun with responsibility, and sports. Indiana University, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs fan until the day he dies, I'm sure.
In 1996, my very own steer (Dairy Farmers, remember), Thomas "Tommy" Walter, was sold at auction to Packerland Packing of GreenBay (now a part of Smithfield Beef Group), a supplier of fine beef to 4 and 5 star restaurants in the upper mid-west United States. I received the most money for a steer our farm had ever seen. I was proud.
That's when I noticed the Green Bay Packers. I watched with awe the players determination and fierce desire for a win. And win they did! I told Dad and Jarrod (my younger brother) that the Packers were going to win the Super Bowl. They didn't believe me. And yes, the little girl who knew nothing about football was right.
To this day, I really know next to nothing about football: the stats, the averages, the probabilities, etc. These things mean next to nothing to me.
Watching my teams win? That is everything.
SuperBowl 2007 was impressive to me. Not the game itself since I was at work and couldn't get the day off to watch... But the fact that TWO of my teams were in it was enough to make me estatic. I didn't care who won or lost. I was still going to win.
But between 1996 and 2006, I was out of the football scene. I knew next to nothing except that Monday Night Football at Hooters got me the best service any woman could get there. (I was pregnant with Samantha and attended with my male roommates every week religiously. I even gave birth to Sami on Monday Night Football night and missed it. I missed "The Monday Night Miracle" all because I was having a little Monday Night Miracle of my own.)
And then came Niko... A Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan whose love for Tampa rivaled my Dad's love for Chicago changed everything. Niko reminded me a lot of Dad when it came to football, patiently explaining to me the ins and outs of the game. Finally a woman, with a little more math and spectatorship under my belt, I was beginning to understand. Niko played a Yahoo Fantasy football game with his coworkers and through it was slowly explaining what was what. I was hooked. (Speaking of which, Vinny "the Traitor" Testeverde, who started his career with Tampa Bay, threw 4 touchdown passes with the Jets in the fourth quarter alone on that missed game October 23, 2000. Three went to players who had never made a touchdown in their time in the NFL.)
So now you get the drift. I went from an excited little kid watching football with her dad and brother, to a teenage girl who had no use for such things, to an avid watcher and closet football geek in her adult years.
I don't get all the time in the world to watch my football and trust me, trying to find the time to watch my games let alone wrest the TV away from someone else's control long enough to watch my games is near to impossible. But I shall do my best this year to follow my teams, my guys, my second favorite sport.
Next up: Break-down expectations of Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Green Bay Packers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
STAY TUNED!
Let's start with the Elizabeth-American Football relationship history, shall we?
In my early years, my Mom (Marguerite) tried to instill in me nothing but the "finer things" in life. Music (of the classical variety), arts (of the black dress affair type), learning (higher education a must), and the written word. A little of what she taught exists still.
My Dad (Wayne) on the other hand, was about the land, fun with responsibility, and sports. Indiana University, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs fan until the day he dies, I'm sure.
In 1996, my very own steer (Dairy Farmers, remember), Thomas "Tommy" Walter, was sold at auction to Packerland Packing of GreenBay (now a part of Smithfield Beef Group), a supplier of fine beef to 4 and 5 star restaurants in the upper mid-west United States. I received the most money for a steer our farm had ever seen. I was proud.
That's when I noticed the Green Bay Packers. I watched with awe the players determination and fierce desire for a win. And win they did! I told Dad and Jarrod (my younger brother) that the Packers were going to win the Super Bowl. They didn't believe me. And yes, the little girl who knew nothing about football was right.
To this day, I really know next to nothing about football: the stats, the averages, the probabilities, etc. These things mean next to nothing to me.
Watching my teams win? That is everything.
SuperBowl 2007 was impressive to me. Not the game itself since I was at work and couldn't get the day off to watch... But the fact that TWO of my teams were in it was enough to make me estatic. I didn't care who won or lost. I was still going to win.
But between 1996 and 2006, I was out of the football scene. I knew next to nothing except that Monday Night Football at Hooters got me the best service any woman could get there. (I was pregnant with Samantha and attended with my male roommates every week religiously. I even gave birth to Sami on Monday Night Football night and missed it. I missed "The Monday Night Miracle" all because I was having a little Monday Night Miracle of my own.)
And then came Niko... A Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan whose love for Tampa rivaled my Dad's love for Chicago changed everything. Niko reminded me a lot of Dad when it came to football, patiently explaining to me the ins and outs of the game. Finally a woman, with a little more math and spectatorship under my belt, I was beginning to understand. Niko played a Yahoo Fantasy football game with his coworkers and through it was slowly explaining what was what. I was hooked. (Speaking of which, Vinny "the Traitor" Testeverde, who started his career with Tampa Bay, threw 4 touchdown passes with the Jets in the fourth quarter alone on that missed game October 23, 2000. Three went to players who had never made a touchdown in their time in the NFL.)
So now you get the drift. I went from an excited little kid watching football with her dad and brother, to a teenage girl who had no use for such things, to an avid watcher and closet football geek in her adult years.
I don't get all the time in the world to watch my football and trust me, trying to find the time to watch my games let alone wrest the TV away from someone else's control long enough to watch my games is near to impossible. But I shall do my best this year to follow my teams, my guys, my second favorite sport.
Next up: Break-down expectations of Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Green Bay Packers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
STAY TUNED!
No comments:
Post a Comment