Michael Allen: "My NFL Marital Status: Single and Okay With It"

  

   

   I grew up in central Alabama, where college football was easily the most-watched sport.  In that area, people respect the National Football League, but it is nowhere near the conversation piece that Crimson Tide or Auburn Tiger football is.  I was brainwashed from an early age to be an Auburn fan.  My parents have had season tickets since shortly after their graduation from the institution in 1982.  I have been to at least 100 Auburn football games at this point in my life.  It’s a major part of my life and always will be, especially now that I’m halfway though my college career on the Plains.

   Along the way, I’ve discovered deep love for only two professional sports teams—neither of them from the NFL.  I have gone through several stints of calling myself a “fan” of various NFL teams.  Most of these came between the ages of seven and twelve.  Most recently, however, I considered myself a Washington Redskins fan for a few years. 

   I became interested in the Redskins for three reasons—Marcus Washington, Carlos Rogers and Jason Campbell—all former Auburn players.  I now regret that decision-making process.  I would prefer for my NCAA and NFL interests to not be affiliated.  It just seems dirty.

   I fell out of love (though I don’t think I was ever in love) with the Redskins partially for this regret.  Over time, I also grew to hate Washington’s ownership, coaching staff and many of the players.  You can’t learn to love a team when you hate practically everything about them.

   I now consider myself back on the market.  I am an “NFL Divorcée” for lack of a more applicable term.  That being said, I do not want to avoid watching NFL football.  In fact, I appreciate the NFL more as a sport than I do college football.  The players are obviously more skilled and the games are generally more exciting.  I also have grown to despise the intense corruption in the college game, and the fact that headlines about scandal and cheating dominate sports news.  Overall, the NFL is just more appealing to me.

   What do I do?  Do I just pick a team to root for at random, hoping I develop an intense love affair?  That sounds too similar to my relationship with the Redskins.

   I don’t think I’m going to have an NFL team before the season officially starts this Thursday.*  Nonetheless, I’m still more than excited about the league this fall.  How can I be pumped for a fight in which I have no dogs?

    There are a number of factors.  First, the start of football means the start of my favorite time of year, which is about five months long.  It lasts from the beginning of football season, and contains Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, New Year’s, and the NFL playoffs. 

   When it comes down to it, the NFL is compelling even without a favorite team.  Many of my fellow southerners say that NCAA football is much more emotionally intense.  I’m not so sure about that.

   Brett Favre, though the butt of endless jokes now, has a blast every time he steps on the field.  After beating the Seahawks on a snow-covered Lambeau Field in the 2008 playoffs, he attempted to start a snowball fight among his teammates.  Tell me that wasn’t one of the most delightful moments you’ve ever seen, and not just in sports.

    After losing the 2004 AFC Championship, Hines Ward cried during an interview. He so desperately wanted to win a Super Bowl.  Not just for himself, but for Jerome Bettis.  “He deserves to be a champion,” Ward tearfully said of the Bus.  Tell me that’s not one of the most heartbreaking moments a person could ever witness. 

   Kurt Warner went from stocking grocery store shelves to winning Super Bowls and MVP awards.  That’s a zero-to-hero story if I’ve ever seen one.  The league's history book is abundant with fascinating characters and legendary tales. 

   And thanks to the lockout, the beginning of the NFL season is special this year.**  It’s like if you were a kid, and had been told in the spring that there wouldn't be a Christmas this year.  Over the summer and fall, you get used to the idea of not having Christmas.  While you’re disappointed, you know that it’s only one year without Christmas.  That won’t be so bad, will it?  Then, a week before December 25, your parents tell you that Christmas is back on.  Now you realize more than ever how special it is to wake up on Christmas morning.

   

    Maybe I don’t have an emotional connection with an NFL team like I do with my school’s football team.  I doubt that I’ll ever make it to 100 NFL games. But the league is as thrilling as it ever was, and there’s nothing that will prevent me from paying attention to it.  At this point, I don’t even care that much about having a team.  Maybe some day I’ll find that I have an emotional connection to an NFL team.  Until then, the National Football League will always deliver engrossing stories.

Thursday can’t get here soon enough.

*I am always willing to listen to a pitch describing why I should root for a particular team. 

**Sometimes I think that the lockout was just a publicity stunt by the league.  It sure seemed to get a lot of people excited about the season.

Michael Allen is a writer at Students of the Game. He is currently studying at Auburn University as an English major and a minor in TV/Radio/Film.