Football is hot topic of debate at my house
It is often said that opposites attract, and I think that holds true for my wife, Erin, and I.
She is talkative and I am not. She is quick to react and I am more analytical. She pokes along while driving and I have a lead foot.
The biggest difference between the two of us this time of year is football.
Being a sportswriter, I love football — actually I loved football, and sports in general, long before I became a sportswriter.
My wife hates football.
She says it is too slow. She hates the fact that a game that has 60 minutes on the game clock takes about three hours to play.
“There is about five seconds of action then the guys stand around for a while between plays,” Erin told me once. “If they didn’t stand around so much, the game wouldn’t take so long and it would be more exciting.”
I argued the breaks between plays helped build tension and made the upcoming play seem like it is the most important play of the game.
I told her that made the entire game exciting because every play was crucial to the outcome. Erin countered by telling me she still thought the game was boring.
This is just one of the many conversations we have about football.
When it comes to my favorite college team, I am superstitious. For the first couple of years of our marriage I wore the same shirt on game days because my team kept winning when I wore the shirt.
She said the shirt was ugly. I said it was ugly, but it was also lucky.
Erin did not seem to understand how my devotion to my team would carry them to victory, especially since I was watching the games from home. I told her I didn’t understand the forces in the universe that made that shirt so lucky for my team either, but it worked and I was going to wear the shirt no matter how ugly it was.
Eventually time caught up with the shirt and it began to get threadbare, so I retired it. Now she is happy.
She makes fun of me for talking to the television and getting emotional during the games.
Yes, I have been know to tell officials to get their heads out of certain orifices and I have jumped up and down in joy when my team makes a great play to take the lead.
And, I am sad to say, I have been know to utter the occasional profanity after a bad play.
Erin hates it when I scream in either joy or disgust, mainly because it startles her. I am working on taking the volume down — I have made vast improvements in the past couple of years — but she says I still need to work on it.
But the most interesting conversations we have about football are about one team — Notre Dame.
I can’t stand Notre Dame. I laugh when the Fighting Irish lose and give the television dirty looks when they win.
Erin has a Notre Dame sweatshirt she bought because she liked the colors.
I try to explain how Notre Dame is overrated. I explain how the fan base is pompous and unrealistic. I explain how the movie “Rudy” is one of the most blatant pieces of propaganda created since the communists took control of Russia.
She just doesn’t get it, but I love her any way.
Erin’s strengths make up for my weaknesses and my strengths make up for hers. We work well together, even if she hates football.
