It’s that time of year, kids are back to school, nights are getting cooler and the sun is setting sooner. Hard to believe summer is coming to an end. There is one thing though that makes this a great time of year – FOOTBALL. I don’t know how many of you are excited about this, but in my house the saying is “Bring it On”. Oh yeah, we look forward to this day every year. You see, we do not watch a lot of TV because there are always things to do and most of it involves being outdoors. Yes we do have a few favorite shows that we watch but most of them end by June. In the summer there just is not enough on that interest us, even with the 315 channels we have. We do catch some of the WNBA games but you don’t always find them on. In my house we love sports but our favorite one is football.
This is the time of year when weekends bring together good friends all wearing their favorite team jerseys. Unhealthy foods like buffalo wings and chips and dip and of course lots of beer. This is when you walk into a sports bar and see TV’s broadcasting all the games. This is when you have to shout to be heard over all the commotion. I don’t know of any other sport that have fans that can scream as loud as they can when football is on.
Football has come a long way over the years. It used to be a guy thing, but now I know just as many woman who watch and cheer for their teams as I do men. I know some of you are thinking, that’s not me, I would rather be out shopping. Trust me I understand that it is not for everyone. For those of us who enjoy the sport though this is the time of year when we seem to get together a lot more. Tailgating parties have become a ritual and the food that is cooked at a game is no longer just burgers and hot dogs. Everything from college games to NFL games get celebrated. Weekends are spent in front of TV’s with groups of people. Betting on games is a whole sport on its own. Everyone is either doing a football pool or a fantasy league team. You can feel the excitement in the air.
We have two teams in my household. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Miami Dolphins. Every year we watch and hope our teams will win. Some years have been great let downs and others were hopeful. When game day rolls around we both are in our teams jerseys, hats, socks, bracelets and any other thing that we think will bring our team luck. It has always amazed me at some of the rituals people will do for their teams. You also see vehicles decked out with team logo’s. Players become hero’s to kids. This is a very emotional time of year. True fans will cry when their teams lose and cry tears of joy when they win. I know I always have high hopes going into the year that this might be the year we become champions once again, of course every year has not brought me that far, but I am a true dedicated fan and will always root my team on.
My bird Simba even gets into the game. She can sing the Eagles fight song, she sits on her perch and watches the games and shouts and hollers just like the rest of us. You will hear her crying for defense and yelling for the team to get the ball. She even says touchdown when one happens. You would swear she is human. Most people who come over during a football game cannot believe the birds actions.
Did you ever notice when you get a group together, the one thing that gets a conversation rolling is football. You can meet a stranger in a store wearing a football jersey and comment on their team, hopefully with nice words, and end up having a 10 minute conversation with them, where if they were not wearing the jersey, you might have just passed them by. Football brings people together, it is unbelievable just how much this happens.
Tonight is the first game of the regular season and I have my spot ready and waiting. Tonight the Carolina Panthers vs Denver Broncos and the season officially begins. Sunday is the day though that most fans are waiting on and consider the true opener of the season. Thousands upon thousands are waiting to see if this is their year. The grocery stores are packed with people buying food for the games. Me, well I am super excited this year, I got the football package on my TV for free this year. Now I actually get to see my team playing instead of hoping my game will make the regular channels. I am in football heaven here.
Are you ready for some Football, I say bring it on!
Let’s Go Dolphins!