A new love

I have always loved football, but this season, I am, in a word, obsessed. College football has been like a drug to me the past few weeks, a drug I've admittedly not needed, but one that I've enjoyed immensely. Gina has been so patient with me about it, even trying to get into it, and sometimes pretending that she's as excited about it as I am. But the best thing is, she lets me love it. She lets me watch it on TV and she patiently waits until the game is over, and she'll watch the replays if I ask her to. If I were single, I'd be watching every single game on Saturday... it's probably better for me that that's not an option.

One thing Gina will rarely turn down when it comes to sports is actually playing them. She might not love watching them on TV, she might not understand them completely, but man, if you suggest that we try to actually play it, she loves it. As do I.

Monday, we went to Target to get a few necessary household items (water, dish soap, decorative jack-o-lantern), and we decided to buy a football. After much decision, we chose the Pee Wee Football, designed for little boys ages 6 to 9. There was one smaller size - the mini football - but I felt like that was too small. This one seems just right - and I can't believe a six year old would be expected to hold this football.



The past two nights, we've gone to a park near our apartment to play catch with the football. I had never thrown a football before Monday night, and I picked up the spiral pretty easily. It was FUN. The latent purpose of this is to of course exercise without realizing you're exercising - my favorite kind of workout. Let's play basketball or football or softball or go hiking... anything but the g.d. GYM. Seriously.

I'm here to tell you something - football hurts. The first night, it was all smiles and sunshine. Yesterday, I was a little sore - my arms and shoulders mainly. Last night when we played, it hurt a little but then felt good. But this morning...

Hell.

Everything hurts. It hurts to grip a pen. It hurts to type. It hurts to sit and it hurts to stand.

And yet... there's still something in me that wants to go back out tonight and play more. This weekend, we're getting together with a few girls to "play football." Not really sure what that will entail, but you better believe you'll be getting some pictures of it.