Football Limboland

I spent all yesterday afternoon planted in front of the television watching the final two games of the NFL playoffs of the weekend.  I used to live for weekends like this but it’s something that has lost its luster for me.  I think the biggest downer for me was having to watch the games alone.  Football is a game best watched with friends.  I truly enjoyed the game Saturday night with friends. I’m kind of scared about the trends I’m seeing in the games.  Once again the teams with the better defenses have won all the games except for the Patriots game.  Next week they face a Baltimore team with a very good defense and the kind of big mouth posturing that I hate. As I think back to the games I have enjoyed most in my life, it is always with friends or family.  This circles back to some of my earlier blogs where I talk about the isolation of a post military life.  I truly enjoyed watching the games but was left with a feeling at the end of the day that I had wasted my time in a certain way.  My wife gallantly tries to understand American football but it is still a work in its earliest infancy.  The yellow first down marker helps more than anything.  My wife was decisively engaged with making Christmas cookies again, this time to take with her on her annual trip home to Panama.  She says cookie making is better done in the 12 degree weather we had yesterday instead of the 90 degree weather of Panama.  I have to take the blame for the isolated football viewing because I know if I had called any of several friends I would have received enthusiastic invitations to watch the game with them.  I’m going to have to overcome that social inertia if I want to be truly happy.