Hi everyone. My name is Todd and I’m a footballaholic.
Hi Todd!
The ultimate beauty of the NFL season is this: unlike hockey, baseball, and basketball, every game is important (unless you root for the Bills, Raiders, or Lions that is). Losing streaks carry an extra burden unlike any other in professional sports. Lose four in a row in the NBA or NHL and, while it definitely isn’t okay, it’s not out of the ordinary – hell, lose four in a row in baseball and nobody blinks – and it’s certainly not cause for panic. Lose four in a row during the football season, even in this age of parity, and alarm bells are ringing. Lose seven or eight in a row and the season might as well be over. Every game carries a certain extra weight because of that. As a fan, you can’t pull the same tricks that work during something like a 162 game baseball season – wandering in and out, following the team at a distance, catching a game here or there, keeping tabs with the top beat writer, and then zeroing in once the playoffs roll around. Do that in the NFL and the story is lost.
We’re now in the high holy days of the NFL calendar – the playoffs. Another reason to love football is single elimination – win or go home. No second chances, no coasting for a couple games and then rallying to save the series. Games already heavy with importance are now survival contests. It’s pure excitement, right in the mainline. It’s the type of thing that a junkie such as myself lives for all year long. Even without a dog in the fight, I was looking forward – jonesing really – to a solid day of pigskin. Instead, I missed all but a couple minutes of one game.
Instead, I spent most of the day tending to a houseful of sick/injured people. Coughing, snot, aches, and a trip to the emergency room filled my day rather than tackles, passes, and touchdowns. Everyone turned out okay, but it’s a long day being the one healthy person on the premises.
Now, were things bad enough that I couldn’t have ducked out for an hour here and an hour there to catch more football? Probably not had I timed it properly. Despite bronchitis turning my wife’s breathing into a dead ringer for a 12-pack-a-day smoker cough, she probably wouldn’t have begrudged me some football. Instead, I made peace with not watching the games and catching up online that night. I missed the Jets surprising everyone and jumping out to a big lead, the Colts adjusting and taking care of business in the second half, the newly-minted Reggie Bush Face after he muffed that punt, the back-and-forth Brees-Favre battle, the pandemonium of the Superdome after Garrett Hartley’s 40-yard field goal in overtime, and what missed most – the game-killing, soul-crushing, and completely inevitable INT from Favre towards the end of regulation. Missed it all.
Now, I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression here – that I’m a saint or trying to boast about what a great guy I am. There was a time when there wasn’t anything that was tearing me away from the TV on Sunday. I was absolutely bummed about not watching those games and was totally conscious of what was on, to the point of thinking what quarter it probably was and who was leading. No, I’m not a great guy because I skipped football for a sick family – I had the opportunity to do the right thing and I happened to do it.
Sports is big part of my life because I enjoy most everything about it. The action during the game, the strategies and interplay between the coaches, the artistry of a well-played game, or the sheer beauty of one special transcendent play. For a lot of people around the world, sports is an important part of life… and probably a little too important. It can be a unifying force, bringing a group of people together. It can be a relief from tragic circumstances. It can bring about unreasonable joy. Unfortunately, it can also be an excuse to ignore family and waste huge amounts of time.
Despite getting back into the sports blogging biz this year, I’ve actually watched less sports because of family commitments. The irony. Some of it is a normal part of getting a bit older and having a family (after all, diapers don’t change themselves and unless you have the forethought to introduce the idea of goats as a lawn care plan early in the marriage, the grass won’t get cut until you get outside) and other parts have been bad timing and life happening. But I’ve found ways around it, ways to compromise and still get my fix – albeit a lower dosage. Granted, I’m working on three hours of sleep per night and eat a bowl of raw coffee beans for breakfast, but it seems to be working so far…
What I’m trying to say is that I hope something comes up for you in the next couple of weeks that requires your attention on the day/night of a big game and that you do the right thing. Maybe it isn’t necessary to catch the entire 12 hour Super Bowl pregame show. Perhaps you can do without seeing the first half of the Celtics game. There’s an excellent chance that the Bruins can make it until the third period without you (unless you can skate and have a decent wrist shot, in which case you should probably get to Boston for a try out – quickly). That being said, I’m buying vitamins and sneaking Airborne into everyone’s drink at dinner for the next couple weeks to see if I can’t watch the Super Bowl in peace.
Hey, I never said you couldn’t plan ahead, did I?
