How "Hard Knocks" and "Friday Night Lights" Have Changed Me

My earliest football memories are of my mom, yelling at the Cowboys on the kitchen television while she cooked dinner. Other memories include falling asleep during every Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game, putting on makeup before St. Marks' football games in high school, then milling around behind the bleachers, and making prank calls to people during the '94 Super Bowl. This was before most people had Caller ID and we still used phone books. My friend, Lizzy, and I called a lot of numbers before someone picked up. This old dude answered, probably pissed that someone was calling during the Super Bowl, and I picked a name out of the air. Is Jennifer there? I asked. I was laughing my head off. I was about to hang up when he said, "Sure, just a second." Shit! He came back and said, "Sorry, Jennifer's at a Super Bowl party. Let me take a message. Who is this?" I freaked out and said, "The person...who is calling...is right here!" And I threw the phone at Lizzy who got pissed and hung up. We stopped pranking after that because a huge fruit fly had gotten into the house and we had to hide under a blanket for the next five hours until her parents got home. We didn't know what a fruit fly was and so we called it Mutant Fly.

So, the point is, football was not a riveting past time for me. I recognized this early on as a character deficit but have only recently accepted it as such. Honestly, I thought there was nothing I could do about it.

Until I started watching Friday Night Lights. Hunky dudes + Coach Taylor's accent + Tammy Taylor + raw masculinity, sacrifice and fraternity through sport = I now love football. And, weirdly, can sort of understand it now. Well, better than before.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any better for me and football, a friend of mine upgraded to HBO AND has HD. He introduced me to Hard Knocks, the reality show about the New York Jets pre-season training. Holy shit. A whole new, unseen world was revealed to me. Coaches with foot fetishes! Players on opposing teams playfully ribbing each other in between plays! Rookies who didn't quite make the cut, but appreciate the opportunity! Hard Knocks revealed to me the human aspect of football, which I can really connect with since I used to be a competitive soccer player. I know how much pre-season sucks, how your teammates become your best friends, how coaches can be lovable assholes.

So, I actually watched the Steelers vs. Jets game--without complaining. I drank some beer (ok, it was wine. but still.) and just sat my butt down and watched the whole damn game. Even with that Hoarders episode about animal hoarding and a guy living with 2,500 rats sitting on the DVR. *That* is how much I can tolerate football now.

I am even planning on going to a Super Bowl party. I may still be doing some prank calls. Sorry/you're welcome.