My husband is a Bears fan. Makes sense. He grew up in, and I’m really don’t like to use this term because it sounds like an amusement park but it seems very popular, Chicagoland. I am a Giants fan (Yes, New York. I lived there for three years and have many reasons why my football fanaticism landed there but they mostly involve Superbowl XLII in 2008). We both love football. Living in Chicago, his game is ALWAYS on. My game, well that’s a different story. But today, both of our games were on back to back!
I had another great friend brunch and came home in time for his game to start and some guests to arrive. The Bears won. Wahoo.
Then, after our guests left, my game started. He took our dog to the park and I got cozy on the couch. I saw the Giants field goal about 3 minutes in and the promptly fell asleep until dog and husband returned about half an hour later. The score was 13-0 Giants at this point. Great. I fell asleep again and this time I did not wake up until the third quarter when the Cowboys took the lead 24-23. What?! Not only was I upset that the Cowboys took the lead, but also that I had missed most of the game and had no idea! I became incredibly awake, and the rest of the game, in true Giants fashion, was a total disaster, nail biter, heart attack.
But that is why people love sports right? I mean maybe I have a better attitude about it right now because the Giants ended up winning 29-24 (what what!) and if they had lost I would be in total agony and curse them for putting me through it all. However, I enjoy how dramatic it is when a game comes down to the final minutes or, even better, the final play. I root for my team, you root for yours and we feel like nothing else matters in the world than that play. I am 100% invested in this one thing at this one moment and it is totally acceptable for me to yell about it whether I’m in a stadium of 100,000 people or my very own living room. I actually believe, and there have been numerous articles, books, theses, etc. written on the topic that go in to way more detail than I care to attempt now, that watching sports gives people the same emotional satisfaction as theatre. And that theatre and sports are more closely related–in terms of emotion and ritual–than say sports and television or theatre and movies. I think that is why I love both so much.
And maybe also why I am so competitive.
The many faces of a Giants fan.
year of fun 