Sports-Monkey in the making…
With the Pittsburgh Steelers in the #1 seed playoff spot this year, it is time for me to reveal my ugly little secret.
It all began innocently enough: I started watching the Steelers because my husband has been a fan since his childhood, and as I’ve never followed sports, it was natural for me to align with my better half. Over the last two years, I have absorbed a little of the team’s rich history and become familiar with the players. I can’t watch just any football game, but if the Steelers are playing, I’ll be paying attention. Often, I prefer to watch with the sound turned down, or even off. The announcers of any major sporting event drive me insane. It’s like having some busybody stranger talk non-stop in your ear while you’re trying to watch. (Just try reading the closed captioning sometime; you’ll be amazed at the inane babble.)
So, the events of a few days ago took me quite by surprise. I was flipping channels when I happened to land on ESPN. There were highlights on, and since I’ve strangely acquired a taste for Chris Berman’s Fastest Three Minutes in Television halftime show (hey, why spend an entire Sunday watching 4 football games when you can catch all the big moments?), I paused to watch a few clips. Five minutes later I was thinking “well, that’s a good point but without TO I hope the Eagles have come up with some new moves to compensate for….wait a minute, what am I doing!?”
I’d been watching the shiny-suit brigade babble on about players who weren’t even on my team! And there are still 24 days until the Super Bowl.