Yup, it’s that time–FOOTBALL is everywhere. Though on modified schedule, due to COVID-19, it still appears to be on every Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and….sometimes Tuesday…and maybe Friday. Wait–is that EVERY day of the week except Wednesday? For sh**’s sake, Batman! Before COVID, this schedule drove me absolutely out of my mind but being the kind soul that I was back then, I put up with it. Now that COVID is present, why in the world is it still on so much?! In fact, maybe it’s on more than before! There is a very popular (but unnamed) sports network that shows every gosh darn game and even gives one game the prestigious new title of “Game of the Day”. Is one game any more special than the other 3 games also played that same day? Not really. Hahaha. I have morphed into such a grump of late. Translation: eye rolling, grumbling, huffing and most notably complaining in a blog.

THE BUNKER

Every weekend for the past few years, I prepare my bunker….my football day bunker. Now days, this is the room in the house where the alcohol, snacks, an extra TV, ear plugs, phone chargers and eye rolling happen. You see, if Notre Dame plays on Saturday (or sometimes a Friday), yelling and shouting shall ensue on the other side of the house. If the Packers play on Sunday or Monday, the yelling and shouting shall also ensue. Pre-COVID, the bunker also went by the name Target and it was a lovely place adorned with whozits & whatsits that I may or may not have needed. With the pandemic, however, course has shifted to an in-home version where the TV has Disney+, Prime Video, Netflix and Hallmark (of course). During bunker time, I’ve been known to text my pals, who are also be football fans, to check on scores and see if it’s safe to come out. Pre-pandemic, the answers were either, “we won! you can go home!” or “Lew, you’d better keep wandering. That was ugly.” In pandemic era, responses take on the likeness of, “Yes! We won!” or “Uh…you might want to grab more snacks before this next snap.” I’m not the only spouse with a bunker – there are so many of us! If you’re the spouse, I feel ya. If you’re the football fan, (insert laughing eye roll, but eye roll nevertheless)!

BACK IN THE DAY

Interestingly, I grew up a football girl with a dad who had it on every Sunday, at a minimum. I learned how the game worked, memorized every college and NFL team and operated as though football and life were synonymous. Now days, though, it’s not really my thing. My other half has this love of the sport that is well beyond my ability to comprehend. He both played football and coached it in his younger years and that connection to the sport has remained. It’s cool…he loves football. But there are only 32 NFL teams so how are there SO many games? No, no…don’t try to explain it, none of it makes sense to me. The world stops for football. Everyone has their own version of relaxation and brain breaks but football provides the longest break in the history of man! Damn football.

Those are my thoughts. Happy (football) THURSDAY. The End.

###