Let Him Celebrate

Well, the good Lord only knows how this thought crossed my mind today. I mean, I'm not a football fan. I probably couldn't even name ten NFL teams off the top of my head if my life depended on it. (Technically, I probably could. You know what I mean though.) Are you ready for this ladies? (And gentlemen too, if any are actually reading my blog. Lol.)

I think I finally "get" the whole male/football thing.

Why is it that most males (Please note that I stated "most", not "all". I try hard not to generalize.) have this innate sense of urgency to watch each and every football game he is halfway interested in?

I mean. It's football. A bunch of overgrown guys chasing a pigskin filled with air around on a field, right? End of story. Throw in a couple of yellow flags on an unlucky day, some buffalo wings, and a lot of over-painted, under-clothed crazy fans, and you've got yourself a game, right? Wrong.

I can't tell you how many times I've stated, "It's only a football game. If you've seen one game, you've seen them all." I honestly feel guilty now. It hit me this morning as I was getting ready to take my little guy to preschool. Would I like someone telling me that I didn't need to watch this Thursday's episode of Grey's for the simple fact that if I had seen one episode of confused Meredith, cheating McDreamy and heart-broken Izzy, I'd seen 'em all? I don't freaking think so!

Football is more than a sport. It's an emotional community of thousands of people with a lot of heart who are pulling for a common cause. Each new match-up (Please forgive my terminology. This is coming from an individual who has never sat down to watch a complete game in her life. Go figure.) brings an entirely new set of stats to the table. New chances for records to be broken. A new story behind the story. (Heck, even I heard about the Saints winning their first game back in New Orleans and about the Manning brothers playing each other a week or so ago.) Also, I think men have this unexplained need to feel like they're a part of this story. You're husband's heart is on the field being stomped on at the very same instant his favorite player fumbles the ball.

Football also equals stress relief. I mean, seriously, how can you compare taking out frustration by dribbling a basketball down the court as opposed to taking out frustration by crashing full speed into another human being? I don't see how it's possible. It's full contact. It's manly. Men want to be a part of it.

Which brings me to my next point... Who am I to tell someone that he can't watch a game on tv? It's just a game, right? I feel that men have this need to belong to this so-called athletic communion of other men. Could I really bear the thought of a co-worker asking the person I love, "Hey man, did you see the innerception that so and so made last night?"

"Well man, I wasn't permitted to watch tv at that particular time. What happened?"

Yeah, like I want to put my guy through that. No woman wants to have the man she loves look inadequate or weaker than another man! That's our job- to build 'em up. Society has already dictated that guys are just supposed to know about football. (Or politics, or Nascar, or whatever his particular social circle dictates, I suppose.) End of story.

So, would it really kill us to understand our man's sense of urgency to flip the channel to ESPN before kickoff? I think not. Our men are a part of a bigger picture. They want to belong. They want to feel like they belong. Each new game is like a new soap opera, with new characters, new plot lines, an entire history from last "season" and different circumstances to boot. It's not just a game to them. So when he's shouting at the ref who made a bad call, try not to let him see you roll your eyes. I'll try too. He thinks he's a part of it. He is, actually. It's a male thing. ~And if that's helping him become a better man, then so be it. Let him celebrate the touchdown too.