So You Want To Be A Sports Fan?

Now that Fall is here, you may be finding yourself lonely at church or in the cereal aisle on Sundays. Starting in September every year, hoards of husbands, boyfriends, brothers and friends pilgrimage to bars and friends’ houses to watch football each week.

While golf is still living in the 1950’s, football is embracing women like never before with things like the Lingerie Bowl and the Cowboys Cheerleaders’ Calendar… OK, just kidding. Football is still a guy thing but more than a “guy thing,” it’s a fun thing!

Women deserve the right to hoot and holler at the TV, and cheers their friends just like the guys do!

I am here to help open the door.

Football is great sport to follow. It’s only one day a week. It’s better on TV than in person and it’s a fun way to be social – dress down, forget the makeup, and grab a beer.

When the time comes for my future wife to bring me to a cooking class, I am going to need some basics beforehand.

Some of you women are already properly armed. Kudos.

The basics.

Blend In

Pick a team. Buy a jersey. You want to pick a team that is generally supported by the community you live in. Sports are generally team endeavors and so is cheering. Being that obnoxious opposing fan in the bar is a lot of weight to carry and not worth the stress. It’s fun to high five and cheer with your friends or strangers.

Buy a jersey to show you care (Not the pink one!). Be invested. Buy the most popular player’s jersey. If you buy an obscure player’s jersey, you will have to find out who he is, what position he plays, how he is playing this year, and how he played last year. Don’t make it harder than it has to be.

Cheer When Everyone Else Cheers

If you are the only person cheering in a bar or at a friend’s house then it’s obvious you are not quite sure what is going on. I remember awkwardly beginning to sing in church when everyone else was quiet. Who interrupts a priest?

Start off by just cheering when your team scores. Makes it easy.

Be Positive!

Everyone likes when you say good things about their team. No one is really looking for deep insight from anyone at a bar because everyone thinks they know more than everyone else. What you don’t want to do is put yourself in a hole you can’t get out of.

If you say, “Tom Brady sucks!” someone might turn to you and site his three Super Bowl rings, two MVPs, single season TD record, and the fact that he had more wins through his first 100 games than any other quarterback ever as reasons he doesn’t actually suck. Say nice things and people will want to talk to you. We all want to feel good about our teams and ourselves.

Ask Questions!

Guys love being able to rationalize the hours a week they spend on the Internet looking at stats and reading articles on their favorite teams. Throw ‘em a bone. Ask away.

Also, if you are single, it’s a good conversation starter that gets him feeling good about himself, while keeping you engaged in the game.

Have Fun!

Whether you’re cheering, betting, socializing, enjoying a beer or the BBQ, football is fun. It’s a great way to meet people and it’s the perfect excuse for a little weekend extension.

So leave the heels and handbags at home, ladies – it’s Football Season.

This Week In Sports

We are in the midst of the MLB playoffs at the moment.

American League

The Detroit Tigers are giving the favored New York Yankees all they can handle despite neutralizing MVP candidate pitcher Justin Verlander. Their series is tied at 2 games a piece. The deciding game of the 5-game series will be Thursday night with Yankee rookie Ivan Nova facing Detroit mid-season acquisition Doug Fister. The Yankees roughed up Fister in game 1.

The Texas Rangers beat The Tampa Bay Rays in four games after losing game one. The drama of Eva Evan Longoria’s late season heroics sizzled in unmemorable fashion with the exception of Rangers’ 3^rd Baseman, Adrian Beltre’s three HR game.

National League

The Arizona Diamondbacks fight to play another day after Rookie 1^st Baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit a grand slam, powering the Diamondbacks to a 8-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers lead the series 2-1 and play in Arizona tonight.

Philadelphia Phillies’ bench player Ben Francisco hit a pinch-hit home run last night to give the heavily favored Phillies a 2-1 series lead over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Football

Sorry, ladies. After last week’s four-interception mess, Tom Brady cut his hair. Gisele’s Brazilian cabana boy is back to looking like the guy that won three Super Bowls. I’ll miss the Bieber jokes.

The defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers put together an offensive performance on Sunday that will keep NFL coaches up all week. Their QB Aaron Rodgers seems to be leading early in the MVP race.

The Dallas Cowboys blew a 17-point lead to the Detroit Lions leading to lots of unwanted attention as the Cowboys head in to their bye week. Tony Romo’s up-and-down play has given birth to the term “Romocoaster.”

Lost in the midst of the collapse was that Detroit is 4-0 for the first time since 1980, eight years before its quarterback, Matthew Stafford, was born.

This has been a weird year thus far as there are really only two teams that stand out as sure things for the playoffs – the New England Patriots and the Packers. And even they both have glaring weaknesses (pass defense).

The Philadelphia Eagles, which had “Dream Team” labels coming into the season, is 1-3. The Pittsburg Steelers were the AFC champions last year but are a mess on the offensive line and their defense looks old.

My team, the Arizona Cardinals, sucks.

I’ll be updating the blog weekly talking about sports, fan-ology, and including some pop culture stuff here and there trying to make it as easy and as fun as possible to be in the loop.

Thanks!