Monday, August 15, 2011

Sports Classics

Why on earth does anyone want to watch a sports event when they already know the outcome? This is, by the way, how I spent yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, Nate was paying attention as I flipped through the channels. I must admit, I'm the channel flipper in the family. Nate would prefer the TV remain off but I can sit there hitting the channel "up" button over and over and over, spend 3 seconds on a channel and move to the next. I can literally do this and try to stay abreast of every show that we can view. So today, as I was flipping channels, I came across the Big 10 Network playing a classic game from 1998: the Rose Bowl featuring, yours truly, University of Michigan vs. Washington State University. I tried to quickly change the channel before Nate saw what it was but I didn't quite switch fast enough. "Wait, go back!" He exclaimed. I sighed and knew the afternoon was doomed. He was so excited about this game.... a game that he already knew everything about and decided that I needed to know all the details too. He knew the outcome: 21-16. He knew the winner: UM.  He knew all of the plays. He knew the ones that would spark controversy, the great throws, etc. And yet, I couldn't change the channel. We had to watch this game. We watched it through dinner, in fact. When I started to stand to clean up after dinner, he grabbed my hand and begged me to stay through the end. As he so rarely asks me to watch anything with me I acquiesced especially after remembering how much he puts up with. He actually stays within earshot when I'm watching The Real Housewives of _________ (fill in the blank) marathon on Bravo. (Please know that I do have some standards and I do not watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I only watch Orange County, New York, New Jersey, & Beverly Hills. I do have some standards, you know!) So, I sighed and sat back down and thought of all the rewards and pats and kudos I should receive for such an amazing sacrifice. We watched the end of the game, (which, if I'm being honest, when he asked me to wait and watch, there were only 30 seconds left to the game). We watched Bob Griese get all emotional over his son, Brian, the UM quarterback being named the MVP. And then it was over. Don't get me wrong, I love sports. I love college basketball (go Duke!). I love college football (Go Blue!). I love baseball (Go Cubs, Go!). You name the sport, I'll name my favorite team. But classic sports, I just don't get. What excites me about sports is the unknown, the suspense, the thrill of the game. There's none of that in the classics. There is no suspense. I just don't get the draw. In a few weeks (Nate knows and announces each day the official number of days left) College football will begin and every Saturday we will have the TV on from around 11 AM until around 11 PM. It will be tuned to ESPN and it's affiliate stations as we hop from one college game to the next. And I will get into it big time and I will enjoy every minute of it but I never plan to watch those games again...or at least, until the next time I'm flipping channels and Nate is paying attention!

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