Sunday, January 8, 2012

The New York Football Giants

I started dating my husband one month before I graduated from college. Right after graduation I moved and we spent six long months falling in love long distance. Sick of being apart he threw away nearly everything he owned, jumped on an airplane and moved into my 350 square foot "junior one bedroom" apartment. Luckily it had skylights or we would have turned into over sized trolls maneuvering around a hamster cage. That first Superbowl came shortly after he moved and he had no local friends. So I bought chips and dip and Bud Light in the cube and we had our own Superbowl party. It took me a good three years to realize football was so much more than the Superbowl (I was raised by basketball fanatics). And another two to fully accept "football season" as a period of reverence in our home.

Once my boyfriend was my husband of many years I finally understood it was not so much about football as it was about a particular team, the New York Giants. I believe my slow realization was lengthened by the team's lagging performance in the first decade of the new millennium. Starting with losing the Superbowl in 2000 I proceeded to watch my husband meltdown like clockwork every time they lost a game. I started to hate the Giants. They were making my life very complicated. A perfectly good Sunday would be ruined in a matter of minutes as the score flipped and the Giants seemed to forget they were playing football and started playing track and field. After gracing the playoffs with one game in 2002, 2005 and 2006, they went on to break one team's very impressive record breaking record and bring home the grand poobah in 2007. Since then they have been mounting and building, making the playoffs for one game in 2008 and just won our first playoff game for the 2011 season yesterday. 

Through all this loss and success my husband remained an ever faithful fan. There were years where people laughed at him and told him to get a new team. But that is not how that man works. Once they started winning the greatness of each victory was oh so much sweeter because he had remained true, rode out the rough years and was now seeing something near and dear to his heart find success. At some point during the last thirteen years we have been together I stopped getting annoyed and started watching. I will admit it, the players can be easy on the eyes. But being the competitive lass that I am I started wanting to know what was going on. And learning the rules. I now watch the game with honest enthusiasm. I have gotten to know a little bit about those boys in red, white and blue. How they can cream a team in the first two quarters only to come back after halftime and lose miserably. How their favorite position seems to be the last two minutes of the 4th quarter down by 8, and they will pull out a victory. You can't get too uppity as a Giants fan. They seem to relish the role of the underdog, it is when they do their best, play the hardest. And achieve the most. There are a lot of ups and downs and quite frankly they are extremely unpredictable. But when they are on it is glorious. Amazing. Spectacular! As I watched an impressive game yesterday I noticed the parallel between the endless grit and strength my husband and I have tirelessly exercised to be successful in our lives is reflected in our team. No we have not always achieved the winning title, but we have not failed either. We keep showing up, day after day, season after season, year after year, and trying with all our might to get it right. One of these days we will...

Thanks for joining,
Leah

6 comments:

  1. Darn, I was gonna make a comment about how much I HATE football season and how I stream movies with my earbuds in so I don't have to listen to my husband melting down every time the Redskins make a play and totally screw it up and then you had to go and say it reminds you of how much it parallels your relationship. Shoot.

    I used to love watching the Redskins with my husband (he's a lifelong fan), but then Dan Snyder bought the team and they haven't won a game since...slight exaggeration, but they really suck now, so my husband is in a bad mood from August until February. Now I hate football, but like the Redskins, he also keeps showing up and hanging in there. Maybe I should take another look.

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  2. I look forward to your posts. I'm on your mailing list. But... I must say... I'm disappointed to have read an enitre post dedicated to FOOTBALL! I get enough of sports all year long... I hate sports and go out of my way to avoid anything having to do with them! I feel like sports are my husbands mistress, that i have to endure as "par for the course"
    There is little in life that I look forward to, since I am pretty much home bound. I'm very proud of you and the progress you have made and the struggle to stay that way.
    I have posted maybe 10 times in my life to comment on anything. I know this is your blog, and you can post whatever you like, but shouldn't the posts be in the same genre as the title?
    Some of us out here battle daily to not smash the tv, drown the laptop, hack to pieces the radio and slaughter the smart phone!
    I find your other posts a beacon sometimes in my life when I feel as though I am drowning in pain and misery. Please continue to post those insightful and inspiring stories I have come to love and rely on.
    But, please, for the love of God, no more FOOTBALL.

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  3. Leah I love to watch my favorite football team the Seattle Seahawks. Watch out world this team will some day make it to the super bowl and they will win. I loved that with this blog I was able to forget about my fibro pain and think about all the pain that my team will some day dish out. LOL love you and your blog. Kim

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  4. I am not a football fan either. My husband watches it and I have just learned to tolerate it after all these years. No it is not my most favorite topic to read about, however, I did not find this blog to be about football nearly as much as one lady's journey through life. And how she came to terms with something that is not going away anytime soon. If that does not sound like surviving the Fibromyalgia experience then I don't know what does.

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  5. We have a couple things in common. I'm a man without Fibromyalgia, but I do love football and I hate Fibro. My wife - who had Fibro when I met her, has gotten progressively worse over the 12+ years we've been together. So I found it quite ironic when I stumbled upon this post and found people equating "tolerating football" with "living with Fibro." I don't get it.

    If only it were that easy. If only you could just change the channel when Fibro reared its ugly head. Hardly the same thing.

    I'm talking moreso to the people in the comments section, not necessarily the author. "Coming to terms" with football and a sojourn through life with Fibro are completely different, and I am mildly offended that you'd equate the two. It does NOT sound like surviving Fibro. If you want to make a correct analogy, let's have the football players come to your house and kick you ... repeatedly ... every minute or so for the rest of your life. Could you "come to terms" with that?

    Have a great day!

    P.S. - The Giants suck! Go Bears!

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  6. I loved the article about football. In Colorado right now, the Tebowmania is wild. I may have to get a #15 jersey to go with my #7. Go Broncos! Writing about a topic other than health makes the point that we are real people who have lives and interests outside of fibro and pain. Thank you.

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