I married into this.

At our house, the seasons are not winter, spring, summer, fall.


They are football, basketball, golf and baseball.


I'm really not kidding. My sweet husband is a manly-man, who loves all things sports. We are never hurting to find something to watch on TV, because there is ALWAYS a game showing.


I sort-of married into this. I grew up with manly-ness being shown in chopping wood, fixing things that break, and hunting animals--not necessarily in loving sports. My two grandfathers are both big Hog fans, but my dad has never been a sports fanatic. Sure, he loves a good game every now and then, but he's definitely not a "don't make plans on Saturday, because we're watching the Razorbacks play" kind of guy.

To be honest, I love it. When Evan and I first started dating, he told me he once didn't ask a girl out on a second date because she wouldn't call the Hogs. I knew right then, that if I wanted to hang on to this guy, I would have to learn to love it. And I have. I loved the giddy grin on Evan's face last night as he read an internet article about Ryan Mallett staying at Arkansas for another season. I love all the conversations we have about football, where I sometimes have to pretend that I know what's up, and then ask a lot of questions afterwards. I love rooting for the Cubs with him, even though most of our friends are Cardinals fans. One of our conversations last night just happened to be about whether or not Tiger would play in the Masters(which is three months away), to which we concluded an overwhelming NO on that one. Because of Evan, I could probably even name most of the SEC football coaches and top players.

Love will do those kinds of things to you.


Hands down, college football is Evan's favorite, and we all know what team. He is certainly not a fair-weather fan. He loves those Hogs! I don't remember which season--maybe 2005, right after we were married--we were sitting at the football stadium waiting on a game to start and I asked Evan if he had to give up playing golf or watching the Razorbacks play, which would be harder? His answer: "Definitely golf. I almost sold a set of golf-clubs to help pay for this year's season tickets."

As much as I love that guy, his love for sports, and my learning to love it--I am never sad to see the football season come to an end. Never. I guess it's that whole month of December where college football is not just on Saturday, but a different bowl game every night of the week. And then there's the TV turned to football for the WHOLE DAY on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and the next.


The reasons above are all the reasons I knew that last night was the night. The night when Texas faced Alabama, and even though we don't like either team very much, we root for Alabama because they are SEC, and it makes us look better. The night when Evan would say he was coming to bed soon, but stay up until the bitter end of the game, because he just can't bear to read the final score posted on the internet; he MUST see it for himself. The night when my sweet, precious, manly-man husband will shed some tears because it's the last night of college football until August.

I will shed some tears with him, because I love him that much. But inside... inside I'm shouting a little Hooray and dancing a jig because I've got nine months of Saturdays with NO football. Evan knows this, too. And loves me for it.