Football Freak

Football season is near! I'm an absolute freak this time of year. I love all sports, but just thinking about the corner of our NFL Sunday Ticket enhanced screen lighting up whenever the Colts enter the red zone just makes me all warm and tingly inside. And Chris Berman's player nicknames...does it get any better than Mike You're in Good Hands with Alstott?

This is my Pittsburgh Steelers football helmet from third grade. It still sits on display on a table in our game room (and sometimes on my head), but as you can see it doesn't really fit anymore. The Steelers were my team back then. I figured I could pick any team because we lived in rural Nebraska and even though the Broncos and Chiefs were the closest to home and on TV every Sunday, I didn't really care for either one. Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris just did it for me. And the Steelers were the team all the boys at school liked. I wanted them to think I was cool so they would let me play football with them at recess.

Now I'm all about the Colts. I haven't been a lifelong fan, but I became a Peyton Manning nut while he was at Tennessee and I tracked him like a stalker once he got to the NFL, and now I've been sucked into all things Colts. The Packers are Angela's favorite team because she grew up in Wisconsin. We both like the Cowboys. The Cowboy players leave for training camp today. Yippee!

I love college football too. The Huskers and the Longhorns. I've lived in Lincoln and Austin and I really miss the college football hysteria that takes over on football Saturdays. I used to go to the Sidetrack Tavern in Lincoln the night before a big game and drink draft beer (that I'll never touch again because it gives me migraines) and listen to slightly altered (i.e. pornographic) fight songs that would make Husker fans scream with delight and Colorado fans (or whoever the sorry opponent would be the next day) weep with embarassment and then threaten to hand us our derrieres on a silver platter. It was great.

Here's to six months of spinach dip, wings, and thrilling 4th quarter wins! I need a Colts helmet for the next blog.