football

I'm fairly sure that I've never written a post about football before. And that's because while I like it and really enjoy being at a game and/or watching a game on TV, I can't recite stats to you or even name many players (okay, to my credit, I know a few!). Every once in a while I play in the football pool at school and on an even more rare occasion I win. Which gets under the skin of my colleagues - and with good reason. You see, I usually choose my teams by the team colors or the city they are in or the mascot or if it's a college where many of our students or any of my friends or family members have attended. Correct. I don't look at stats or pay attention to the predictions about the match-up. So when I win, it's pure luck. I get it, it's sort of obnoxious. With that as the backdrop for my football following, I must say that there are two teams that I always choose as the victors since they are the only two teams that I really follow at all - the 49ers and the Saints. Why? Well, the Saints are from New Orleans which is my hometown and Drew Brees (an SAS alum and and all-around great guy) plays for them and he's simply amazing and, as I said, just a good person. And the 49ers because growing up in the Bay Area they were our hometown team. Joe Montana. Jerry Rice. Bill Walsh. Those were household names and when I saw Joe and Jennifer (Montana) at Stanford Shopping Center I thought that was so cool.
So today was particularly challenging as the Saints and the 49ers were playing one another! In some ways, I suppose it was a win-win situation for me. And, yet, I felt like I had to choose a team to cheer for. But how could I? Well, my compromise was this wish: let Drew Brees have a great game AND let the 49ers win.
My friends laughed and reminded me that the two might be mutually exclusive and I said, "Well, a girl can dream."
And sometimes a girl's dreams...even football dreams...come true! Like today!
The game was AMAZING. Seriously. I didn't know it was possible to have that many touchdowns in the last 2 minutes of a game. I didn't know that you could see the heart of the players so tangibly on the field. I didn't know that I could practically stop breathing and have to force myself not to cover my eyes during a game. But that was my experience on Saturday afternoon/evening. I hope each player feels good about what he did on that field today. I'm not sure I've ever seen such determination or heart. It was incredible...literally breath-taking. And although I love the Saints, the 49ers proved to me that I will always feel a particular loyalty to them as my first team...glad they are on the upswing again as it just makes cheering for them a bit more fun! Congrats boys!