Don't Hate, but I Just Love Football

This started out as a Facebook status, but it got too big and turned into a blog.  Let me preface this by saying we ALL have guilty pleasures.  Mine is football.  College, professional, even high school – I love football.  I immerse myself in a world full of stress. I live by bottom lines, numbers, deadlines, due dates, federal regulations, and zero bending room at my job.  I strive for success in academia and spend countless hours researching, reading, writing, and evaluating.  Some people detox from daily life with shopping. Some people detox with eating delicious foods. Some people detox with their children, a hike in the mountains, a walk with their dog – but I detox every fall when there is football all around me, and I am not ashamed. In fact, I don’t judge other guilty pleasures because I know that MY guilty pleasure is easily judged.

So here I am, in the heart of football season, with a weekend of football coming up I can’t wait for.  The UW Cowboys are taking on CSU for the Border War and battle of the boot – which is just always my favorite game of the season.  Not because they are such intense rivalries, but because in that game, you see more young men playing with heart than any other game of the season. They play with more grit, more determination, more admirable sportsmanship than ever before, and whether or not we keep the boot this year, Saturday is a day I am very much looking forward to.

A day that will be followed on Sunday with what promises to be one of the most epic days of all time in professional football: Ladies and Gentleman, Peyton is going home.

THIS promo teared me up!

Let me tell you something about my love for football. I don’t cheer for particular teams. I cheer for players. I cheer for good players who live their lives upstanding on and off the field, because like it or not, there are a lot of people looking up to these over-paid athletes.  That’s right, I said over-paid, over-idolized, over-rated and I think all those things, but it doesn’t change the love I have for the game. For instance, I am THRILLED by Alex Smith’s success at KC – San Fran did him dirty and I love the giant message he is sending with that 6-0 record.  RGIII’s rough start this season? I think the jerk deserved it, since he went all Prima Donna about his “comeback” after an injury and called his coach out for “not handling it properly.”  He wanted the red carpet, but I have news for him, his crap stinks just like the rest of us.  If they didn’t roll out a welcome committee for Brady’s return after knee surgery, they sure as hell aren’t going to for a rookie quarter back.

Not the point though, the point is, Peyton is coming HOME! While many people assume I hopped some sort of bandwagon, let me clear about a few things.  First, during his time in Indy, I followed the Colts obsessively. Second, through our terrible time with Orton, our Hail Mary with Tebow, and into the Manning era, I have cheered for the Broncos – Champ Bailey is one of the best, Decker is something special AND Unrein plays for them – so how can I not follow a team that drafted one of my beloved former UW Cowboys?  Peyton though, Peyton is who I learned about football on.  During his days in Tennessee, when I was a little girl, my Dad taught me about football through his career.  He told me that boy would grow up to be an NFL great, and he was right. In my opinion he grew up to be THE NFL great.

So he is coming home.  And Sunday night, I will sit and watch the game wearing an orange Jersey with the number 18 plastered on the back, and a set of Colt’s Mardi Gras beads around my neck…and I will hope, with all my might, that Peyton sends a message to Irsay in the number on the scoreboard, because we all know that he is far too classy to send a message with words. Far too humble. Far too grounded.  That behavior is beneath him. And THAT is why he is a great: next to passing yards, TD’s, winning seasons, and blasting out stats that are breaking records – he is a good person, an honest player, a family man, and on Sunday when I am listening to whistles, the crashing of helmets, and the screaming of fans, what I will really be hearing in my mind is. “Hurry, hurry!” and “Omaha” and to quote a line from the below article, I will remember I am cheering for a man who says things like this: "But you have to have peace with circumstances that come your way that aren't your choice. You better have a good attitude about it and find some peace and contentment in it…”

Ever listened to Luck’s comments during the game on one of the specials when they have him microphoned? He has the same heart. Good luck, kid, Peyton is you in 15 years.

No matter what the score at the end of Sunday’s football game, it will be the closure we all need, the Indy fans, the Broncos fans, Peyton…no matter how ridiculous it may sound to you, I am emotional over it, and I cant wait.

AND just in case you care as much as I do?

Read THIS article!