Football

UGH!!!!!
Why is it exactly that I have come to HATE football so much? It is not that I entirely hate the game. I will admit that it is not that exciting to me. It is a long drawn out game that moves about as fast as a slug and there is rarely a moment of excitement in it for me; however, at the same time I do not mind going and people watching, I enjoy cheering in those few and far between moments that something spectacular actually happens, and it can be fun to be a fan of a team. So why does my skin start to crawl as soon as football season starts. Well the answer is pretty easy: RODNEY. It would be OK if his OCD just got rid of all of the other crazy things he does and he could be entirely focused on football, but alas that is not how it is. He just adds one more thing to obsess about. The last thing I want to hear at breakfast, lunch, dinner, when I am in the shower, when I lay my head down at night, or even when I am siting on the toilet is what he thinks the Cowboys could or should have done better. I just feel like having a recorder playing at my side all the time saying "seriously, do you really think I care?". I guess I could just grin and bear it if it also did not come with the attitude. Heaven forbid someone is engulfed in a show and he wants to watch some TiVoed football game. He will meanly, and I am seriously meanly, tell you to "hand over the remote right now! The show that is on is stupid and I have a game to watch. I don't care if there are only 4 minutes left, I have a football game to watch. You can finish some other time." And the worst is that it isn't even me he is talking to, it is the kids. If there is a game during church he either magically becomes sick, is so late that we leave him and he never shows up, or he does go and complains and is mean to everyone at church the whole time. Anytime a game is on he expects me to just run around and serve him whatever he wants while he sits on the couch- and after he has started being mean to everyone (yeah right!). Then the kicker is when he wants to have friends over and have me cook and clean for everyone while he sits around and is rude. And one more thing- Who needs to TiVo and watch every football game in the WAY TO LONG season AND pre-season for every team?????? I used to enjoy football. OK, maybe not necessarily football, but at least the chance to just chill while a game was on, sit and hang out together, and people watch if I was there. I didn't mind spending a few hours a week just being with him while he did something he enjoyed. Now it honestly makes my skin crawl to hear the announcers voices. I leave the room entirely and find something, anything else to do. And so do the kids for the most part. It is a cardinal sin to sit in the same room and chit chat while there is a game on, you know you might miss some important "who gives a crap" fact about some random person who did something 100 years ago in football.

I have GOT to find a way to make it through this season!

• I guess 1st and foremost Rodney and I have got to sit down and talk and put some limits and expectations on how much he watches football.
• He will have to understand how much his attitude has affected how our family feels about this sport.
• We will need to decide how he wants to watch football- alone or with others- and what that entails.
• He will have to limit his talking to me about it, and when he does I will have to smile kindly and nod my head like I care.
• I need to also have a commitment from him that football is second to more important things, and I will have to understand that football is first compared to some of my stupid things.
• I will have to have a more positive attitude about it and support him in his moderate football watching.
• I will sometimes sit by him while he watches (even if I am reading a book) and make him feel like he is not completely alone.

I did buy him a neat Cowboys tie the other day that is blue on one side and white on the other (for home and away) so he can wear it to church on game day. Maybe I'll even be nice tonight and grab a book and go sit by him while he sits in there alone watching the TiVoed game from earlier tonight, even after he just ripped all of our heads off about how fast we handed over the remote.

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. How many more weeks to the Superbowl?

And for now I wont even think about Hockey!!!!

PS- Although it does not sound like it, I have not been rude to him and have had another great attitude day. All of my crabbiness has been directed to the computer, not him. How's that for biting my tongue- I just can't seem to bite my fingers ;)