I must preface my comments by admitting that I am not into
sports. My father didn’t play
sports. My mother didn’t play
sports. Neither did my brother or
sister. As a matter of fact, I can’t
think of anyone in my extended family on either side who played sports except
for a few eight year old kids.
My husband on the other hand LOVES sports of all kinds. He didn’t come from a sports playing family
but somehow the bug bit him. In his
younger years, he regularly played golf, tennis and softball. He coached high school golf and tennis for
many years. Even in his sixties, he
still plays golf regularly and softball with the church team when pressed into
service. What sports he doesn't play, he
watches on TV.
My dad did like to watch stock car racing and professional
football on TV. Back in the 1960’s and
70’s, homes only had one TV (imagine that!) so whatever my father watched the
rest of the family watched. Stock car
racing never interested me. They drive
in circles for hours with the only excitement being when they crash. Not a fan.
Football, however, did catch my eye.
Maybe it was the tight pants and a player with long hair named Broadway
Joe Namath who played for the New York Jets.
Whatever the reason, I was hooked.
When Jerry and I started dating in 1969, he was still in
college so we only saw each other on weekends.
After church on Sunday and a meal of my mom’s roast and vegetables, we
would join my dad in the den and watch football. During those Sunday afternoons, sitting close
and holding hands, I learned a lot about Jerry and a lot about football.
Even though sports have never been important to me, I wanted
our daughters to develop some skill and understanding of sports that I had
always lacked. Being short and
near-sighted like their mother, we knew they would never be great athletes but
we tried at least to provide them with opportunities to learn. They both played recreational league
basketball. They took numerous tennis
lessons and played on their high school tennis teams. They both were cheerleaders (yes that is a
sport).
Our oldest daughter is our sports nut. She cheered all through elementary and high school. Had she gone to a smaller college, she could have cheered in college. She also played elementary school softball. She has her dad’s competitive attitude that drives her to want to not only play sports but win. She turns 40 this year and still plays team tennis at her local country club. It is fitting that she had a son. Developing a love of sports in her has paid off.
One sport that my husband plays these days, I just can’t
understand. It is fantasy football. They have a big party at church to pick their
teams and this year’s winner was announced from the pulpit last Sunday
morning. There is also an XM Radio
station devoted solely to fantasy football and other sports. He has tried to explain it to me but I
can’t quite get it. It is a game based
on how other people play a game. How can
that possibly be fun? I still don’t get
it.
