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I am married to a die-hard Vikings fan, and I have had to suffer through many a televised game. However, I never took any real interest in the sport until I found out that Brett Favre, yes, the one and only, and I share the same birthday (Oct. 10, 1969). I feel almost a kinship with the most hallowed Wisconsin icon ever. I really do.
I am in the early phases of becoming a reluctant Green Bay Packers fan. (I do realize that Winona is Vikings Territory, so bear with me.) Reluctant, you may ask? Read on.
To return to my story, my husband, Tony, would not allow any Packers games to air on our television until I learned how football is played. It hardly seemed fair, but I agreed to learn the basics. I felt I had to check out all this talk about Brett, my birthday buddy.
I borrowed a how-to book from my mom that explains football to idiots such as myself. Former Viking Kailee Wong and his mother actually wrote it. I’ve gotten through most of the book, and it has been helpful in many ways, but there is no football education like the actual game, combined with Tivo, that is.
Tivo is a godsend. If you don’t have it, go out and get it.
I had to rely on Tony to explain some plays that didn’t make sense on paper. He was more than patient in showing the ref’s calls, how to identify the difference between a “shotgun” and a “hail Mary,” and which players were doing what. Tony used Tivo to show me passes and plays in slow motion. If I missed something, he’d simply rewind the play.
I honestly don’t know how fans can watch this stuff from week to week, though.
The Packers/Giants play-off game caused me so much grief and stress. I could follow most of what was going on, and it was nerve-wracking. It was such a close game even through overtime. It was four hours of nail-biting TV. First the Packers scored and then the Giants. It was like table tennis match, back and forth, back and forth. You can scream all you like at the TV, but they can’t hear you. It doesn’t stop us anyway, does it? We still whoop and holler.
So I ask: Why would anyone want to put themselves, and I am referring to the fans, through that kind of agony? Isn’t it torture to watch your team lose? I know the Vikings fans are used to it (sorry, I couldn’t resist).
Watching the Super Bowl will be easier because it’s not the Packers playing. However, as a friend put it, she would rather the Giants win because a gloating Randy Moss with a ring would be too much to bear.
All I know is that I will watch the game, along with its ups and downs, and I will enjoy it.
I will even look forward to Tom Petty’s half-time show and the infamous commercials, though nothing can top Prince last year singing “Purple Rain” in the rain. That was way cool.
Sherry Nelson is joyfully married and mother of two little girls. When it comes to spewing political views, the former DFLer claims to be a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, and her husband Tony is just fine with that. Of course, Sherry is able to bite her tongue from time to time.
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