Have you ever watched a football game where one team is stomping on the other? Some times it's a come back moment and other times the team just starts hot and stays hot. Inevitably, the TV guys will zero in on a section of fans whose team is getting stomped. They are stunned. They sit there like zombies, wondering what happened. Their faces are slack with disbelief.
This weekend, I was one of those faces.
We had gotten tickets to an NFL game where the local team was playing my favorite team. We were taking my fourth grader to his first live professional major league sporting event. It was going to be great.
And for the first half it was. But then the tide turned, the home team found their rhythm and they beat my boys by 3 points.
As the home team was building their come back, play by play, first down by first down, I realized I was one of those faces I always pity on Sunday afternoons. One of the folks who had to sit by and watch other spectators cheer and high five and chant. It was painful. Far more painful than to watch your team lose in the comfort of your own home. At home, you don't have to watch your fellow fans get desperate, complaining about calls that are obviously accurate but just not in your favor. At home, you don't have to worry that some inebriated individual is going to make an issue of the comeback and start something ugly.
In the end, it was a great football game - lots of good plays (by both teams) and our family had a great experience together. My son got to cheer for the home team and watch them win. He was elated. But I'm ready to go back to watching my boys play from the comfort and safety of my own home, where I can yell at the TV and no one cares - where my family will cheer with me instead of against me. I am ready for some football.
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