Are you ready for some football?! … (Day 8)

Fall has always been my favorite season of the year, mainly because of the crisp mornings, cooler days, and the beauty of the fall colors. But, I must admit that another reason is because it is football season. I love football! I love to listen to the commentators explaining plays, discussing individual players’ strengthens and potential, and, more recently, following the newest rookies coming into the league - at least those coming from the Florida Gators!

TJ is also a huge football fan. He is a die-hard Detroit Lions fan, while I stand by my Chicago Bears. In recent years we’ve both developed more of a love for watching the college games, too.

TJ and James - September 1990

During our early years of marriage, Joe and I cheered for the Chicago Bears together. But, when we moved to New Jersey, Joe felt we should become loyal to the New York Giants. I was not about to budge from my allegiance to the Bears! In an effort to bring peace to the family, one year we agreed that everyone would root for the Detroit Lions. Our friends who lived in Michigan were kind enough to get us sweatshirts for the boys, and thus the beginning of TJ’s love for football and the Lions.

The effort for the whole family to cheer for one team, though very sincere, didn’t even last through that football season, and by the end I was once again openly cheering on my Bears, James had developed a love for the 49ers, TJ was sticking with the Lions, and Joe just went for whoever was playing against my team.

TJ became as loyal a Lions fan as I was for the Bears. When he was in second grade I had him write a letter to the Lions fan club as one of his writing assignments. He was so jazzed a few weeks later when he received all sorts of Lions stickers, a small team poster, and a map of the country with all of the teams placed on it.

It may have been months later that he brought that map to me and began asking me all sorts of questions regarding if we could stop at this place or that place on our way to Detroit, MI. (We were living in California at the time.) My curiosity finally got the best of me and I asked him, “Why do you want to know if we could go through these different cities on our way to Detroit? What are we going to Detroit for?” He responded very matter-of-factly, yet very firmly, “Well, I’m thinking about which way we should go when you take me to the Lions’ college.” I inquired as to what he meant by “the Lions’ college” and he said, “You know, their college. That’s where I’ll be going so I can learn to play football for them.” At that point I decided that he needed to begin rooting for a good Michigan college team, and so, I introduced him to the Michigan Wolverines. Go blue and gold!

TJ was ecstatic when we moved to Michigan in the fall of 2000. Unfortunately it was the same year that Barry Sanders announced his retirement from the Lions. TJ was disappointed that Barry Sanders was gone, but thrilled to be living in his team’s state! As we were settling into our new home in Portage, MI, he asked if I would enlarge and paint the team’s logo on one of his bedroom walls. Visualize with me a silver lion taking up an entire 10’ x 10’ wall. Did I fail to mention that he wanted the rest of the walls painted in Detroit Lions’ blue? We compromised with a Detroit Lions wallpaper border that went around the top of his walls.

We were very grateful to two younger men in the church who gave our family their season tickets for a pre-season game one year, and on two different occasions took TJ to the game with them.

TJ and his pitcher of ice tea - 2010

I’m not real sure when TJ began to shift more towards the college teams, but about two years ago as Joe and I began watching Tim Tebow play each Saturday for the Florida Gators, we started hearing from TJ that he was spending many of his Saturdays watching the college football games, also. One his favorite off-base locations got to know him so well, that the waitress would bring him a full pitcher of ice tea when she saw him walk through the door. He has now become a loyal fan of the Michigan Wolverines, followed by a list of others that he cheers for, including the Florida Gators and the Oregon Ducks.

On Sunday night, August 1^st, I was thrilled to able to turn on the TV and watch football again! I can’t wait to begin listening in to ESPN’s college day pre-game football show each Saturday. But, this year football season will be different. There will be no more texting TJ with game scores when he is on duty. Somehow emails with lots of exclamation marks just doesn’t seem like it will be the same when it comes time for me to razz him about my Bears beating his Lions. And suddenly the brief shots of the military troops watching the big games from various bases overseas already seem more important than replays of a big touchdown. I don’t know where he’ll be able to gain access to the games, but I do know that he will be anxious to watch whatever games he can, and … they had better have plenty of ice tea on hand because TJ, like his mom, will be “ready for some football!”