It’s beginning to look a lot like football….(sung to the tune, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”)

Every year of my life, I swear I won’t do this, and every year of my life, I prove myself wrong.

Face it, I’m a football addict.  (“Hi, my name is Nick and I’m a football-aholic!”  “HIIIII, NICK!”).

It’s not that I don’t like other sports; I love many sports.  Baseball is GREAT.  Basketball is ok. It helps take the pressure off after the Bowl games and then the playoffs/Super Bowl are gone; it eases the transition from the weekend being built around which games are being played at what time to, “What will I do on Saturday and Sunday afternoons now?”  Well, watch basketball!  “Oh, OK!”

Lately, I’ve been a huge fan of Major League Soccer (!) (?).  Never thought I’d say that, but it’s true.  Lots of fun, very exciting games, and like almost every sport, once you learn the rules and the players, get a feel for the league and the game, it becomes a good deal of fun to watch.  (It helps that my team, the Houston Dynamo, are in first place not only in our Division, but leading the entire league, or liga, as we would say….).  Dynamo games, coupled with the Astros, help me survive the long, hot days of summer.

But kids, it’s like this:

Beer is a great beverage.  Wine is super.  Whiskey is fantastic.  All of those things are terrific; they make life interesting, they are the little added tidbits that help give life diversity, interest. 

Water is basic to existence.  We must have water or die.  When you have been dehydrated, it’s not beer or wine or whiskey or Cokes they give you, it’s water.  Our bodies are mainly composed of water.

And so it is with sports for me.

Baseball, basketball, soccer, all very nice; all are interesting diversions that give a little extra to life.

Football is necessary for existence.

Speaking of bodily functions/enzymes/adrenalin, tell me this doesn’t make your adrenalin pump (and if not, I’ll call the morgue for you).

TOUCHDOWN, ARKANSAS!!!!  OH, MY!!!!

>o<

An example of the foregoing:  Loyalties.  Now, I know there are people who are fanatical about their baseball teams, and could never change them.  Same with soccer, about which there is terrific passion among devotees; ditto basketball with their legions of die-hard fans.

For me, I can shift a bit on those.  Hank Aaron started me on the Braves; I lived in Texas growing up and the Astros were “our” team (never have, to this day, developed an interest in the Rangers).  I can shift a little on baseball, can go back and forth between the Astros and the Braves.  Basketball, well, I really, truly don’t have a favourite.  I guess the Spurs, because I lived in SA when they came in; I can support the Rockets (when they’re good); never developed a taste for the Mavericks and certainly don’t care about any of the rest of the NBA.  Meh, as the kids say.

Football?  NOT A SNOWBALL’S CHANCE IN HELL!

>o<

WHOLE HOG, HALF HAM, ARKANSAS BY DAMN!!!!

Having been an Arkansas Razorbacks fan since 1957, I don’t think I’ll change any time soon.  Houston freaking Nutt just about killed it for me---but not quite.  I can still picture a packed Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, crowd roaring, as time expires and the roar morphs into the Hog Call:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, PIG!!!  SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, PIG!!!  SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, PIG!!!  SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

RAZORBACKS!!!!

That one is engrained into my psyche on a deep level.  I get mad at them; I get glad with them; I go through all sorts of emotions with them, but the bottom line is, I’ll be a Razorbacks fan till I die.

For those of you who don’t care for football, you can tune out my blog for a few months.  I’m planning to be a lot more active with posting this year, and it’s going to be mostly about the sport that, like water, is necessary for my continued existence.

 

Welcome my friend Trent to the blogosphere!  He writes some very amusing and insightful stuff on his new blog, The South Endzone.  Give it a read!