Are You Ready for some FOOTBALL?!?

SUPER BOWL WEEK!

This is probably the most magnificent week of the year.  Not only do we get football 24/7, but it is also the week leading up to my birthday. 

I love football, let me clarify that, I love NFL football.  I will watch a college game, but there is something missing in those games.  Maybe its the fact that the student/athletes (notice a slash not a dash, the men we get to see in the college game are getting paid in one way or another) aren’t in their prime,  that you are down when you hit the ground on your own, or that you only have to get one foot down for a completion.  While they are clearly skilled athletes they lack the precision that is present in the National Football League.  The professional game is for the elite players.  They have worked through the years to hone their craft and get on the 53 man roster of one of the 32 teams in the league (1,696).  The college teams, Div 1-A, 100+ teams with home game rosters nearing 100 (10,000, 20% are eligible for the daft each year).  There are 224 slots in the formal draft, so,  less than 15% of these guys make it to the next level each year, and even less when you take in account the fact that about 50 guys from other collegiate levels get drafted and/or signed each year.

OK, enough stats.  The Super Bowl for most people is about the parties and the commercials.  Not me.  While I enjoy them that is not the reason for the season.  The reason is the game, not the spectacle.  I can remember growing up and seeing my first Super Bowl from beginning to end, Super Bowl XX.  I was 10.  I know that seems old but we didn’t have a TV in our house until I was 9.  The Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots handily.  It was great.  I didn’t know anything about either team, but I loved it.  I remember William “The Refrigerator” Perry bumbling in for a touchdown, Jim McMahon looking like a mad mad every time the camera cut to him, and Ditka, need I say more.

The next year I was rooting for the Broncos.  I have no idea why, but it was a sad night because both my dad and sister were rooting for the Giants.  This is when I became very interested in football.  I would try to fake sick so I wouldn’t have to go to church just so I could watch the pregame shows.  I really wasn’t allowed to watch too much TV, but every moment that I had I watched football.  I became a huge Buffalo Bills fan, my mom’s family is from Buffalo, and it helped that they were pretty good.  I watched in agony for four straight years as they lost more Super Bowls than anyone else in history.  I was also a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.  I spent my younger years in a suburb of Philadelphia.  I loved Randal Cunningham, Keith Byars, Keith Jackson, Reggie White, Andre Waters, Seth Joyner, Jerome Brown, Clyde Simmons, and of course Mike Golic.   I have also grown to root for the Baltimore Ravens, my brother-in-law has season tickets, and they have training camp at my Alma mater.

This was also the time when I started playing football.  Thanks to my uncle, my mom’s brother, he convinced my mom to let me play.  I had no idea what I was doing, but I loved it.  This was 8th grade and most of the guys I was playing with had been playing for years.  When I moved up to High School I made the JV team, everybody makes the JV team.  Here I found out that I had a head for the game.  I played offensive line, where all the smart players are.  I was made the backup center, very smart players play here.  We went undefeated my sophomore year.  I played tackle/backup center my junior year on varsity when we made it to the playoffs, and guard/backup center my senior year.  I was pretty good but undersized at the time, 5′10″ 235lbs.  If I could have been where I am now I might have gotten a few more looks, 6′1″ 265, but I had a great time playing, and it helped me to appreciate the professional even more.  I remember watching a game with my dad and pointing out things that were going on in the line, and even he was impressed.

I also lucked out and married a wonderful woman who understands that I love football.  She is supportive of me watching the games and does everything that she can to ensure that it is an enjoyable experience.  She’ll take the kids to the park on Sundays, and even watch some of the games with me on Sunday and Monday nights.  Thanks my honey;)

In case you can’t tell I love football.  This week is great.  I will get to enjoy the days getting hyped up for the game, see previous post.  I will be glued to the tube starting at 11am and will be there until the presentation of  The Vince Lombardi Trophy.  Go Giants!!

Thanks for listening;)