Monday, November 21, 2011

Monday, November 21, 2011 - 2 comments

Falling Back in Love with Football

There is a memory of my dad that I will never forget. He was in the Army, and we were stationed in Germany in the mid-70's. He ran down the hall from his bedroom to share his joy. The Vikings had just scored a touchdown!


It was one of the rare weeks when the Minnesota Vikings were being carried on the Armed Forces radio network. (Yes, I said radio.) You think it's bad when your favorite sports team isn't being shown on your local tv station? Think about it when you're thrilled that it's on the radio!

As you can imagine, we moved around a lot, with my dad in the Army, but there was one constant. We followed the MN Vikings during the football season, and the MN Twins during baseball. There have been a number of seasons with heartache (like this year), but we had our up years too.

There weren't many years when we actually lived in Minnesota, so we often watched other teams. Even after I became an adult my dad and I would watch games together.  Sometimes, it was more like I fell asleep on the couch, and he watched the game. lol Nevertheless, it was a comforting ritual.

It was a ritual that I couldn't participate in for the first couple of years after my dad's death. By then, I was out of the habit. I found myself getting excited about the season towards the end of the playoffs ... and then it was over! I felt thwarted.

But this year, I'm getting in early. It only took me three years to figure it out, but I did it.  And now, I get a chance to fall back in love with football all over again.

2 comments:

It takes time. I wish you had a better team in Minnesota for your reintroduction to football. These Vikings play hard, but there just seems to be something missing.

Travis: Since I'm living in Idaho, I can't actually watch the Vikings, so that's taking some of the sting out. lol I hear your Raiders trounced the Vikes yesterday. :)

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)