Posted in Me

If you have read this blog at all, you know that I like football.  OK, so it's more that I love football! As I was telling my older daughter this week, fate filled the void in my life by having the Carolina Panthers become a team right around when I moved to the south.  There you go - Panthers fan!

Robert was nearly six when the Panthers began, and he started watching football with me.  The first couple of years were a little bumpy, as he had the one season when all he did was ask me constant questions about what was going on (which isn't very relaxing), and then also suffered from nearly incurable optimism.  The Panthers could be losing 45-14 with 3 minutes left in the game, and he would be outlining what they had to do to win.  Which would be OK, if he wasn't then crushed when it didn't happen.  He never saw the loss coming, and then I would be dealing with a devastated, inconsolable child.  At least once I threatened to not let him watch anymore.

So Robert and I have watched football together for years, and it was emotional for me last year when he went away to college because I had to watch football alone.  It's just not as much fun.  Gabrielle roots for Indianapolis, but she didn't want to watch other games.  Mary had no interest.  Ryan had a little interest, but really only for about twenty seconds and then he would run off and play.

This year promised to be a better football year because I finally have ESPN and the NFL network.  A few weeks ago I checked the preseason schedule and loved going through the list and naming all the games I could now watch!  I was very excited for the preseason to start, because it's been a really long off-season.  As I have watched the games this week, Ryan has been showing more interest and looks like he'll be having that season where he asks me fifty thousand questions.  Hopefully I will have patience!

Ryan has a comforter on his bed that used to be Robert's.  It has all the NFL team helmets on a blue background.  From this Ryan decided he liked the Miami Dolphins (and the Carolina Panthers, so I told him he could stay).  What I didn't realize was that the twins had also chosen their favorites.  So today while Robert and I were watching the Buffalo Bills against the Chicago Bears, they recognized their favorite helmets and were watching the screen.  Christopher would even answer, when asked his favorite team, "The Bears." (I don't mind this, as the closest I ever came to rooting for a team before the Panthers was the 1985 Bears.)  And Alexander liked the Bills helmet (they do have nice uniforms - patriotic without being, well, the Patriots).

Gabrielle was also watching the game and rolling yarn into a ball.  Mary was also in the living room, having emerged after taking a nap (she's sick, well, actually, we all are.)  Ryan was watching (same deal as Mary).  And the twins were even watching.  It was really fun!  It felt like a party. It's like I had a glimpse of what it will be like when the children are a bit older. I'm so happy that now I don't have to worry about watching football alone again until Brogan leaves for college in seventeen years.

But let's not think about that now.