a99kitten's Musings

It’s that time of the year…when kids go back to school, the leaves will start changing colors (ok, not really where I live but I like to think about it happening), weather cools off (umm..see prior note), and people start thinking what to dress up as for Halloween. But most importantly – IT’S FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!

Now, I wasn’t always this into football. My Dad made me watch Sunday games with him all the time. We had football parties, definitely play-off parties and of course a Super Bowl party. It was OK, but I have to admit I didn’t care all that much until play-offs and the Super Bowl.

I grew up in Buffalo, NY and then moved when about 11 to the Tampa Bay area. BUF has gotten close to winning a Super Bowl…4 times actually. But alas, they are still first place losers in all 4.

TB won a Super Bowl! But not until years after I moved away. Growing up – they were the worst team there was. Awesome. Plus they had the most hideous uniforms of ALL time. But I have been rooting for them for years and now that they are decent AND have better colors and uniforms – it’s not embarrassing to say that out loud :) I was actually the ONLY person in our office pool who picked them to beat the Oakland Raiders and win the 2003 Super Bowl. And I was the only person at the Super Bowl party that year rooting for them. That was super fun :)

I definitely got more into football when I moved to the SF Bay Area. We had the 80s/90s San Francisco Forty-Niners. And Joe Montana. And Jerry Rice. And then Steve Young. You had to be a pinko dirty hippie to not care about SF football back then :) I went to plenty of games, went to and threw plenty of football parties and play-off and Super Bowl parties (ah…back when the Niners were good…)

But not until I got into Fantasy Football did I REALLY get into football. And boy – I am hooked! The great thing about fantasy football is that you get into other teams and players that you wouldn’t normally even know existed or care about. Typically you root for teams from places you have lived or do live, where you grew up, etc. But now I root for so many teams and players!! I have never been to Indiana. Can’t say I’ve ever given it much thought other than knowing where it is on the map. But I LOVE Peyton Manning!! So I care about the Colts. I cared when Tony Dungy’s son died and when he retired last year. And I’ve had Dallas Clark on almost all of my fantasy teams since I started playing. And I loved watching Peyton beat the Bears when everyone was screaming “Defense wins Super Bowls” and I loved watching Peyton be a proud big brother when Eli beat Tom (yes, I was rooting for the Giants HARD!)

A couple years ago I got the Season Ticket package offered by DirecTV so I can watch ALL the games and not just the 2 broadcast in my area (and we always get stuck with the OAK game and that’s just a waste of broadcast space.) And of course with the season ticket package you need the Red Zone Channel. I swear, this channel is made by and for people with ADD. But I love it!! This will be my 3rd season with the package and I cannot live without it.

On football season Sundays I have a ritual: wake up early, take the huskies out for a good walk, come back and do a last minute check on my fantasy team, my weekly pool picks and my Survivor pick. The stress this causes is both ridiculous and insanely fun :)

While I do this, Fox Sports is on and no one is allowed to touch the TV. And I watch all the games and yell at the TV and scream at my laptop which has my Yahoo Stat Tracker (free this year-yay!) up along with my leagues and pools. I’ll do laundry, pay bills, do my stepper/exercise, chores around the house, etc. But nothing that takes me out of the house. If I didn’t get to shower before the games started, then I turn the bedroom TV on and take a quick shower during morning game half-time!

At the tail-end of the afternoon batch of games, I take the dogs out for another walk (unless I have players in and it’s an exciting/close game – then they have to wait!) This is a brief respite before the NBC Sunday Night game. I will usually make dinner right as the game is starting and settle in to watch the game. Unless I have no players in, have no hope of winning the weekly pool and it’s 2 teams that I am not all that jazzed about…then we can watch or do something else :)

And this occurs every Sunday. Without fail. There is no socializing on Sundays during football season. My husband is a football widow.

Very importantly, I just finished my live draft for this year’s office Fantasy league!! In order of my drafting – here is who will help The Running Huskies (always my team name) win this year :)

Brandon Jacobs
Drew Brees
Marques Colston
Derrick Ward (always need 1 Bucs player!!)
Hines Ward
Dallas Clark
Kevin Walter
PIT
Rob Bironas
Bernard Berrian
Jerricho Cotchery
Jamal Lewis
Tim Hightower

So, I will likely blog more about football. Although with all my yelling at the TV and computer (and they HAVE to have a good iPhone app I need to find!) maybe I’ll just be too tuckered out to talk anymore about football…….Nah!! :)