Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Football. Wow.

When I was growing up, I developed a strong dislike for football. This was tied directly to the fact that my dad loved to watch football, and I loved to have my dad's full attention. Whenever he was watching football, his eyes glazed over and he got this far away voice, and it took him several hours to answer the simplest questions. I would say things like, "when is this game going to be over?!!!" Dad would respond, "there's just one minute left." An hour later, he would still be claiming that there were only 15 seconds left or something equally unbelievable to anyone that could tell time. When I left home to find my way in the world, football continued to play a role in my relationship with my father. I often received letters or emails with detailed descriptions of the latest great game he had watched, as though these things had some kind of relevance in my life.

This morning my dad called to tell me that he had enjoyed looking at some photographs I sent him. The topic soon drifted to Boise State's amazing game against Oklahoma last night in the Fiesta Bowl. According to my dad, this was the greatest game he ever watched in his ENTIRE LIFE. He was so excited, he went into some kind of play by play recap of the entire second half and overtime. I could not understand a word that he said, it was nothing but secret-code-language football jargon, but since I had at least gathered that BSU won, I just kept repeating, "wow." He promised that he would bring the tape of the game to Michigan on his upcoming visit so that we could watch the whole thing together, complete with his commentary on all of Boise's players. I can't wait to see him. And as for the game? Wow.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

HEE HEE--found ya!! :) Ah, come on, it was an incredible game. I got your card today and was so excited to see that you still can track me down. :) HUGS!

An said...

Amber, I want your email address, so it won't be so hard to track you down in the future, so email me, okay?

HW said...

Wow, Andrea. I could have written this. Except it is my husband, not my dad who loves football. I just got through watching highlights (quarter by quarter, the 4th quarter twice) of this game, and all I can say is, Wow.

Janie said...

After watching Michigan's poor performance I was turned off to football and missed most of the Greatest game EVER PLAYED! Tell your dad I'll watch it with him! I can't believe you live in Ann Arbor and don't like football at all!?!
I want to do your South Beach Diet with you. The holidays have not been kind to me, let me know what you are doing.
Janie

Janie said...

Sorry that said Andy, he tried to start a blog with my account!

Carolyn Hansen said...

I was in Montana with my family and Jason and my brother forced me to watch the entire game. Even coming from a non-football fanatic, it was an amazing game! I thought of you and the Osgies when they won. You have got to watch the game with your Dad!