September 20, 2005
Football Season and Me
It's football season again (yeah!). This is a photo of Quinton Porter, who is the starting quarterback for Boston College (my alma mater).
Believe it or not, as some of you know, I really like watching football on TV, notably NFL but also some college ball. I can watch any NFL game but I have a hard time watching BC play (when they are shown locally) because I get too stressed over whether they might win/lose. They are 2-1 so far having lost on Saturday night to Florida State (28-17). It was a tough loss and they were rallying before Porter sustained an ankle injury. I hope he is okay to play against Clemson this week.
So why football? Well...
It's hard to explain my fascination with football because I am not really a sports fanatic in the traditional sense. I didn't play a whole lot of football growing up, though I did play (often bench warmed) my freshman and sophomore year of HS, as well as in the neighborhood. I also don't play fantasy football and don't know all the latest news/statistics of players across teams (or even one team). I'm not like a lot of ex-jocks who relive their glory days through their local sports teams. I don't even have an urge to attend football games.
Yet, somehow I am able to get completely absorbed in NFL football on Sundays and have been known (frequently) to watch 14+ hours of football in one sitting. Okay, I do get up to eat, go to the bathroom, take short naps, talk briefly on the phone, skim the newspaper, but the game is always on and I always come back to it on Sunday. I know...pretty pathetic, you might say. I also (why am I sharing this?) get fairly animated and am known to hold a football in my hand as I watch the game. I don't, however, own any of those sponge bricks to throw at the TV.
Here's the other odd thing, I really like to watch football by myself, not with a bunch of guys. There is something gratifying about watching the game in isolation. I think it's my stress reliever during the academic year (which it nicely parallels) or something like that. I can zone out and just rest my mind and body. Although, I admit that sometimes I get a kink in my neck from watching too much! I hope to correct some of this physical discomfort with the new couch that I ordered and hope to have soon. So sad, I know.
In talking with my friend Kenny (finally mentioned!), I realized that my addiction may, in truth, be my fascination with the strategy and team play involved in the game. Unlike faster moving sports like basketball (or slower moving sports like baseball), football is much more like old-school, traditional warfare. There is offense and defense. There are position players akin to infantrymen and star players like who act like commandos. QBs are field generals, while linebackers are like platoon leaders. The success of one team's execution of a play is interdependent on the failure of the other team's defensive execution. There is a rhythm and a dance to football. Okay, now I am waxing poetic.
Here is the other thing that I like about watching football. I love the personal stories of hard upbringings, personal setbacks, overcoming injuries -- the drama of it all. Sometimes, oftentimes, such narratives are overkill on TV, but I still like them. It reminds me of the value of hard work and persistence and the joy of living a dream and the hard reality of accepting defeat.
I guess the other thing about football is the seasons during which it takes place. It begins at the start of Fall when the air turns crisp and the nights come early. It rumbles its way through the darkness and cold of Winter and finds daylight and warmth in the Spring. Truly, football reflects the seasons of life! Okay, now I am getting a bit melodramatic, but you get my point.
Maybe others have equal loves/addictions. In truth, my love of football has its limits and it never keeps me from engaging in other activities (thankfully). If a friend calls or a chance to go out occurs, I will defer football to another Sunday without hesitation. But it's nice to know that I can return home to it and expect it the next weekend.
Posted by richlee at September 20, 2005 05:06 PM