Go Giants!

Personally, I don't care who wins. I like the commercials - and the food. And Madonna is performing the half-time show. Yay!

I still don't know much about football - but I am learning.

In the meantime - the Giants are important to someone who is important to me - so I'm rooting for them. I'm also taking the day off on Monday, just in case the game runs long - as it seems football games sometimes do.

Go Giants!

Something new

I want to write a review of a movie I saw a while back called Higher Ground. It's not my usual type of movie, but I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable and moving I found the story. I really want to share that with you - and I will.

Next week.

It's about 10 o'clock Sunday night and I'm tired, and anything I attempt to write needs to be a little lighter, in order for me to pull it off. But I did want to share a little bit about my day, which consisted of two things: Church and football.

I can honestly say that has never happened before.

I haven't gotten up to go a church service on a Sunday in over 20 years. In fact, unless someone died, got married or was baptized, I haven't set foot in a church since I was confirmed in 1990. I only got confirmed in the first place because it wasn't really presented as an option in my family.

As for football... You might recall, I started to try and learn the sport last year - and failed (though I did come up with a great list of football's finest.) While learning about cute boys comes pretty naturally to me, the rules of football do not.

I've basically shut these things out of my life because I wasn't interested, or didn't understand. I figured if it didn't come easily, why bother to give it a chance? I was pretty happy not trying anything new, and was perfectly happy devoting my Sundays to writing and shoe shopping and maybe housework.

Of course, every now life throws you a curve-ball, and you find a reason to let something new in your life. That happened to me recently, and suddenly, trying something new not only seemed like an OK idea - it actually seemed exciting.

So I did. Know what? It wasn't too bad. I'm not saying I'm ready to give up Sunday shopping altogether (let's not get crazy) - but I am saying that some things are worth a little extra effort.

Besides, if you never let anything (or anyone) new into your life, you never know what you might miss.

Football help

Football really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. There are a lot of rules, and there's a lot of jargon used to explain those rules. Jargon leaves the layman (or woman) out in the cold. As an example:

Post Route - pass route in which the receiver cuts inside at a 45-degree or smaller angle after a stem of typically eight yards; so-called because the change of direction puts the receiver on a path toward the goal post; common route for the middle of three deep receivers against cover two. 

That probably makes sense to you, right? To me, it sounds like this would sound to you:

Liquor Liability - Bodily injury or property damage liability for which the insured may be held liable due to causing or contributing to the intoxication of a person, furnishing alcoholic beverages to persons under the influence of alcohol or under the legal drinking age or a law relating to the sale, gift, distribution or use of alcoholic beverages is excluded. This exclusion applies only if the insured's business is manufacturing, distributing, selling, serving or furnishing alcoholic beverages. 

Like a lot of legalese. If I'm ever going to understand this game, first I'm going to need help deciphering the terminology. I have found some helpful resources to get me started; I may eventually just assemble my own, football-to-sue dictionary. 

About Football 101 is a pretty comprehensive site. It even includes a glossary. Very helpful. Especially when people keep using terms in everyday conversation that make no sense to me at all. Computer code is easier to understand.

Football for Dummies: Understanding Downs, Yardage and Stuff includes excerpts from a book written by John Czarnecki and Howie Long (Did you know he played football? I thought he just did commercials with Teri Hatcher and movies with John Travolta? *shrugs*)

Hub Pages: Football for Dummies is a helpful synopsis. My friend @cincool shared it with me - thank you again!

My favorite is this post. It was written by Jaci. Jaci wrote this to help a few of us out who were attending a football-related meetup in the fall - but who knew nothing of the sport. It's basic, and speaks down to me - which is what I need. Because when it comes to football - I'm dumb. (By the way, in addition to blogging here, Jaci also blogs here. Check her out - she's fun to read.)


With all this help, I'm well on my way. I'm sure I'll figure this out...by Super Bowl 46.

Football's finest

I've committed to learning football. Thanks to some cool tweeps, I've gotten some good tips, and found a few football-for-dummies articles to read online. I will probably invest in an e-book for my nook (a review of this fabulous little gizmo is forthcoming).

But we still have to at least discuss the one obvious that football offers. Men.

I know nothing of the players, so I asked my twitter gals what NFL players were worth an extra look. I can always count on the twitter.

First up: Tom Brady (thanks, @mellank) She said "it pains me to say it" - not sure why? Assuming it has to do with his team. But he is pretty cute.

@bethanyhans chimed in with Greg Olsen. She said she "may be biased." Nah....

My friend @ndkelly29 had a few names for me. My favorite was definitely Osi Umenyiora, but it was fun googling Matt Leinhert, Brady Quinn and Brent Celek, too. Please note - Mr. Umenyiora would have won my vote for football's finest, but he lost points for the photos I came across with strippers and too much bling.

Not suggested by any of my twitter girls, Drew Brees is on this list because another tweep suggested I google him for this post. Also, he looks a bit like a cross between Matthew McConaughey and that guy from Dawson's Creek, no?

Not surprisingly, because we are often so similar I swear she's lurking in my head, @sassysingleton offered up my favorite suggestions. Based on looks alone, Mark Sanchez would top my list. When I read his wiki page, I learned a few things that get him disqualified. Boys have cooties. *sigh*

But - all is not lost. Sassy also reminded me about this guy:

Jason Sehorn

Okay, okay - so he's retired. But, I reviewed his wiki page and, it turns out, he's a pretty normal guy. There were no pictures of him with strippers; no photos of him wearing ridiculous jewelry. He proposed to Angie Harmon in the sweetest way ever.

It also turns out that Mr. Sehorn played baseball for one year after high school. Coincidence? I think not.

It really doesn't matter. There's only room in my heart for one crush, anyway.

Back to the books.

New Horizons

It's no secret that I love baseball. What a lot of people might not realize is that the whole reason I like baseball is a guy. No not him. X taught me to love baseball. More to the point - he informed me I would either learn to love it, or I'd be a baseball widow from April to October.

So, I started watching games, I read a little, and I asked questions. I was able to really step up my knowledge by listening to radio broadcasts, rather than just TV broadcasters. Radio personalities have to give you more information; they have to fill the air for the whole game because they have no image to use as a crutch.

So, that was 1995. Know what happened at the end of the season in 1995. Derek Jeter was called up from the minors. Now, why didn't anyone tell me baseball players looked like that!? I'd have been a fan the whole time. Good grief. (It's worth noting that Mr. Jeter played for the Albany-Colonie Yankees early in his career, while I was in college. My college baseball team played at the same field where the Yankees played. I knew players on the college team, but never went to a game. Timing is everything people - don't forget that.)


Anyway, my motivation to appreciate baseball was enhanced by Mr. Jeter. Because - well, because he makes me smile. *sigh* But I'll be honest - I just like the sport. Not to mention, it really was something X and I were able to share for a lot of years, and now I'm able to share it with my dad, and with other friends.

I tried applying the same effort into learning football. For several years in a row, I got as far as what a "down" is - then stopped. Because frankly - calling it a down just doesn't make any sense to me. But whatever. X's favorite team isn't local and are rarely on TV on this coast, and my dad doesn't follow football. I figured I was off that hook.

But nooooo.....

So, I've decided I am going to learn football. I have new people in my life who like sports; watching, and more importantly, talking intelligently about sports seems to be a good idea. Plus, it never hurts to expand your horizons, and learn something new. Thankfully, through the magic of the twitter, I have have some girlfriends who were able to help me identify the proper motivation for figuring all this nonsense out. Details (and photos) to follow. Thanks in advance, ladies.