Football: a noun.Google dictionary describes football as: a form of team game played in North America with an oval ball on a field marked out as a gridiron. Nebraskans describe it as: a passion, a display of honor, pride, & glory, a family tradition, and an example of athletic excellence. As a girl who grew up in a small town in Illinois that preached football so much I grew to hate it, how have I become one of these Nebraskans that lives for football season?
It's my husband's fault! :-) For the first few years of school i resisted the urge to care about the Husker football team. I proudly wore around Illinois shirts on Husker game days just to spite these Native Nebraskans.... they didn't care, they just stood taller & stronger in defense. Then I met my husband.... he was a complete fanatic! I'd never met a football fan like this.
He had me fooled at first. We started dating in the summer, so a happy routine was established of Friday night and Saturday dates, with lazy Sunday afternoons perusing the mall or Target (my favorite). Then all of a sudden in early September, he didn't want to do anything on a Sunday afternoon, and he wanted to stay home all day Sunday. After getting past the initial shock of being turned down and beating myself up with all the thoughts a girl has when she thinks she's on the verge of getting dumped, he called me back. "If you bring pizza over we can watch TV. The game is is on." Huh? What game? Didn't matter, I brought pizza just so we could hang out.
Little did i know that on Sunday the phrase, "the game is on", meant the whole day is considered one big game, and we are going to watch at least 4-5 separate football games throughout the afternoon and evening. There is ABSOLUTELY NO stealing of the remote, not even when trying to flirt or be cute, there is always another game on when one is on commercial, and if not we scan ESPN online to keep up to date on the games we can't get. At the end of that particular Sunday i was absolutely repulsed, yuck! We spent almost 8 hours together, and I got a "Hi", "You want a plate for that pizza?", "Can I get another piece?", "I'm going to bed". I swore him of, then and there.
I avoided him all week, the next weekend he sends me a text something along the lines of the Husker game is on. Ok, this is his last shot, this has to go better than last weekend since there is only one Husker game. It was a little better, we only switched to other games during commercials, and he was entertaining as this time he yelled at the TV the whole game. "Find a route!" "Run the damn ball!" "False start? learn your own counts!" "Holding, ref are you blind? That was a Hold!" Plus a few other obscenities and exuberant comments I won't repeat. I've never laughed so hard in my life!
Fast forward a few months... this guy is a huge Packers fan, so i decide during the Packers vs Bears game to really break out the Bears gear stashed in my closet (I own it b/c I'm from Illinois, I don't really watch games). I'm starting to really get into our football Sundays, talking a lot of smack, eating pizza, having a beer, and laying on the couch all day. I'm even getting familiar with some of the big names in the league. Woot woot!! This Sunday was awesome, a full out battle between our two favorite teams and between who's smack talk is better. "Quarterback sack, take that Favre!" "Jennings to the end zone! Eat dirt Bears!" On Sunday's you would never know we even liked each other...
Fast forward 3 years... I made sure to schedule myself to be working in my base office, so that i can be home for the regular season opener of the Packers on Thursday night. We've both got our brand new Green Bay Packers t-shirts on, and rooting for the defending National Champs in their regular season debut (Yes, I've committed the ultimate sin if you're from Illinois. I've converted, although I still root for the Bears when they play the Pack just because I can). I think I actually yelled louder at the TV than my husband did. Friday night we made it to my husband's former High School's second game of the season, definitely not very impressive, but still really fun. Saturday, a full day of Husker football activities with the CASNR Alumni Football reunion for the first night game of the season. Four tumultuous hours of highs, lows, yelling, chanting, cheering for the team that bleeds Husker red. Surrounded by 80,000+ others who love, cherish and are passionate about the same team I am. Hearing myself yell out "Make a tackle, wrap em' up!" I have to laugh! This is the girl who 3 years ago almost swore off a guy for the same thing.
Now, here on a Sunday in early September I sit with my computer up and rolling; one tab on the blog, one tab on ESPN, my husband running the remote, the NFL Sunday ticket working hard between games so we never miss a beat. I still can't read how an offense or defense is set up, but i know when someone really missed a block or ran the wrong route. Part of the thrill of Sundays is scanning every NFL team for a former Husker, checking up on them, seeing how their doing - like checking up on the family. I love football, its about perseverance and endless strategy. It can turn you into a babbling fool at times with all the random, nonsense trivia you know... that was directed at my husband. Ask him what the score was in the 96' Fiesta Bowl? Nebraska 62 vs Florida 24 "We beat the S*** out of them!", he says it with enthusiasm every single time, like it just happened. Let me remind you that he was 12 when this happened, he is now 28.... does this seem odd to any else besides me??
He played football, bled football, loved football. Spend enough time around him or any Nebraskan like him and it will rub off on you too! It's what we do in this state. We get our posse together and break out the grill or call up the pizza delivery boy (or girlfriend if she is kind enough to put up with you). We yell and rant and rave at the TV. We use football as an excuse to get the family together and to see long lost friends.... Football is life! We spend the rest of the year reliving the season and making our predictions for next season. We watch the young kids play in the yard and mimic their football heroes, we watch the high school kids grow and perfect their skills and ponder who will play college ball. We watch our favorite college players grow confident and skilled and pray that they get drafted to Our Team! That is how we live in the Land of Football.
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