I’ve pretty much always equated a football game playing on TV to white noise. (Chris loves football, so it’s on our TV often.) Despite cheering for pop-warner football as a young girl and attending several high school, college, and pro football games throughout my life, I have never been interested in football.

Things changed for me this fall.

how things changed

At Furman University’s parents’ weekend a couple of months ago, we attended a game, and I decided to be vulnerable and admit that I didn’t really understand most of what was happening. I got curious and asked lots of questions to try to understand the game. (Lol I’m not sure what the two old men sitting in front of us were enjoying more – the game or making fun of me!) As Chris patiently explained countless football rules and terms, my interest grew. Before I knew it, I was enjoying the game. I’m 46 years old, and for the first time, I was jumping up with the crowd, instead of simply stopping a conversation to look at the scoreboard and see if someone scored.

Thankfully, I’m living in Baltimore, and our team is the Ravens. Our coach is John Harbough (a top-shelf guy), and our quarterback is Lamar Jackson (brilliant and exciting to watch!). I am having more fun watching football than I ever would have believed possible. I think Chris might be more surprised than I am.

A few weeks ago, I also watched the 30 For 30 about the Band that Wouldn’t Die and learned some Baltimore football history – what a story! I had actually attended a number of Indianapolis Colts games right after they arrived. I had no idea about the history of the team. The owner snuck out of Baltimore in the middle of the night! Scandalous!

Curiosity Begets New Interests

I celebrate and share this new interest because it started with a willingness to get vulnerable and curious. It was humbling to ask such basic questions but oh so worth it!

I still don’t like the CTE (brain injury) issues related to the game, nor do I like all of the beer, truck, food ads, or objectification of women. But I do genuinely enjoy watching the games now.

GO RAVENS!!!

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