Fall Means Football...
There are many ways for a family to have fun. Snowball fights, days at the beach, hiking in the mountains, playing games, cookouts, holiday get-togethers, laughing so hard you can't stand up and just being together all ring a bell. But there are other, more diverse ways as well.
You see, I have an alter ego. (Well, probably I have several, but then who doesn't?!) Eons before I had a blog, years before I published my first ebook, distant ages before I learned how to create an e-cover, I was an NFL football fan and the commissioner of two fantasy football leagues.
In 1958, when I was eleven, I watched my first NFL game. It was magical. It was on a small, six inch square, fuzzy-screened floor model TV that weighed probably more than an offensive lineman. Most of the time the test pattern was on, because there weren't enough shows to fill out a schedule at that time. It was the Sudden Death game, where the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants in overtime. Johnny Unitas, Alan Ameche, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore and all their teammates pounded the ball into the end zone before my amazed and astonished eyes. From that time on, I was a Colts' fan, never wavering an inch over the next fifty-four years.
I have faithfully followed my Colts through Super Bowl years, and through years where winning one or two games was a stretch of the imagination. But no matter their record, no matter how good or how lousy and pitiful they were, they were my team and I was, and am, proud of them.
As the years went by, my wife became an ardent Seattle Seahawks fan, and our three sons morphed into a Chargers' fan a Bears' fan, and a Raider fan. (Don't ask me where they got those teams from! Each has a different and fascinating story.) I also started playing fantasy football decades ago. I enjoyed playing it a great deal but something was missing. So, finally, I decided to run two family (and a few close friends) fantasy leagues. That was more like it! We could play against each other, no matter where we were in the country, and enjoy the teasing, the excitement, the trash talk and the camaraderie of the moment.
My wife got involved in it a few years ago, and has become quite proficient! In fact, last year, she won both leagues! That's a pretty cool thing for a mom and grandma to hold over her kids and grandkids (Just think of it... Hey! My grandmother just beat me at fantasy football!) I'm quite proud of her and have enjoyed watching all of our family members who participate interact and enjoy the moments we share. It's a way to come together as the miles and states between us suddenly vanish.
You'll notice that several of the characters in The Falls small town mysteries have football teams and baseball teams they root for as well. That's an integral part of small town life as well. Friends running out the flags of their favorite teams on Saturday or Sunday and beeping their horns at others as they pass. Small town America at it's best!
So, you see, for me fall is much more than just beautiful foliage, apple-picking and the first cold breeze signaling that winter is upon us. It's football, family and fun. What does your family do for fun?
May the dragons watch over your favorite team this weekend...
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