So I Married A Football Fan

I always said I would never marry a football fan. I wouldn't even date a guy who spent Sunday afternoon yelling at the TV, depressed until Tuesday if his team lost the game.

I started dating Dave in October. It was the middle of football season.He showed no signs of being a football fan. He was always available Sunday afternoons and evenings for what ever I felt like doing. He did say that he used to be a fan of the Jets, but had a problem with the current coach. So I didn't worry.

We were married 2 years later.

And then the Jets hired a new coach. And the spark of hope that the Jets would someday make it to the Superbowl was re-lit in my husband's heart and my life changed. I didn't realize that he had simply boycotted football in protest against this other coach. How was I, a football hating woman supposed to understand that men did these things?

He tricked me, basically. Suddenly, I was married to that guy I said I would never marry and had to learn to adjust. No, I did not learn to like football. That is not possible, bu I did learn to find something better to do with my time or take a nap on the couch next to him. Football has a way of lulling me into a deep enough sleep that I don't even get woken up from the noise around me.

So I married a football fan. I married a Jets fan.

A little more than a year later, my sister called me up to tell me she ran into her ex-boyfriend. After assuring me that she did not hurt him in anyway, she went on to tell me how great it was to see him. And that she wanted to see him again. She had one concern though - he was wearing a Jets jersey.

She married her Jets fan too, and now they have a handsome little baby boy. The question came up as to how the baby should be raised.

• Will he be raised to love a losing team?
• A team that has not won the Superbowl since in 38 years?
• Why not let the kid have a little joy in life?
• Let him dedicate his time and energy to a team with a winning history, like say, the Patriots?

It made sense to me, as well, for my husband to cheer for the Patriots, since we no longer live in New York. It was clear to my husband and brother-in-law that we had all just completely lost our minds. We suggested the unthinkable.

So it will continue through the generations. My nephew is probably wearing a Jets jersey at this very moment. I have three girls who will undoubtedly have to deal with this sports insanity in their husbands. I only hope to raise them to know what football fans are really like and to beware of tricky men. And to love them anyway.