I Don't Trust Guys Who Don't Like Football

[Hostile]

Every now and then someone will comment on me wearing something Dallas Cowboys related. Whether it's a cap, a t-shirt, a jacket or a necktie, wearing something Cowboys related seems to illicit comments. Sometimes it is support for the Cowboys. I never fail to invite a fellow Cowboys fan to the site, though only a few have taken me up on the offer.

Sometimes it is hatred for the Cowboys. I love that stuff. I have never had an issue with someone who hates the Cowboys as long as they are consistent in it. It is the bandwagon fans who just jump around supporting winners who I can't stand.

I find it funny when people hate the Cowboys over the whole America's Team nickname. I love to see the shock on their faces when I point out how that is the only nickname for a sports team that the media and other teams try and transfer ownership of to someone else. If the nickname is so damned offensive, how come other teams want it? Oh right, it isn't offensive at all. It signifies the best and that is the issue, jealousy.

Or when someone hates the team because of the cheerleaders. Yeah no joke, I actually had someone recently bring that up to me. He talked about the glitz and the schmaltz and the blatant selling of sex. I pointed out that all teams have sexy cheerleaders and he said Dallas did it first. The only problem with that theory of his is they weren't the first team to have scantly clad women dancing. The problem was they were the first to ever drop jaws because they were so hot. Yeah, hot women are a bad thing. How can a man have an issue with that? I confess, I don't get it.

And every now and then some guy will tell me that they just don't like football. I simply don't trust those guys. There's something inherently wrong with a guy not liking football. How in the hell does that happen? I think it has to be a genetic defect of some kind. I wonder if they like to sing show tunes instead.

NTTAWWT

This is the greatest game ever invented and it gets down deep inside you and it moves you in ways that are good for your soul. Even the defeats and bad seasons that drag us down into misery can be good for us in a strange way. They remind us of better times and we cherish those memories even more.

Football is an emotion as much as anything else. If someone can listen to Al Pacino's speech in "Any Given Sunday" and tell me that doesn't move them then I would suggest they may not have a pulse or something is simply wrong with that person. Whether or not you are a fan of Notre Dame you can't help but feel elation when Rudy realizes his dream and is carried off the field by his teammates. In "Remember the Titans" when Gary tells the nurse "can't you see that's my brother" when Julius comes to see him after his car wreck it stomps on your heart when you realize race is an artificial barrier created by idiots.

Those are just movies. Yet they have the power to grab us and hold us and even change us a little. When football gets inside you your life is never the same.

The first time you walk through a concourse and look down into a football stadium it takes your breath away. You see the swarm of fellow spectators and the green of the grass that almost blinds you and you probably hear a brass band somewhere and you might even smell popcorn. If you close your eyes right now that first memory will come back to your mind. It can't be held back because it is such a powerful iconic moment in our lives.

The game becomes an addiction. It gets inside you and you need it. You crave it. You bask in it like stepping out of the dark into warm sunshine. For some of us the addiction is so strong that we aren't satisfied with just being a spectator, we have to get it all over us.

For those who have never played the game I cannot begin to describe to you how painful it is the day after a game to get out of bed and just walk to the bathroom. I once heard it described as being in multiple car wrecks in one day. That's somewhat accurate I suppose, but it still doesn't quite cover it. I say that because win or lose, no matter how much pain you are in you can't wait to put on the pads again. Whether it is redemption for a loss, or to feel the sweet savor of victory again, you can't wait to hit someone or get hit again. A car crash just doesn't compare to that angst, that longing, that addiction.

I guess the pain felt is analogous, but the rest of the comparison just falls short of really explaining it. I actually remember walking painfully to the bathroom first thing in the morning and with each stab of pain remembering the play that caused that ache. I've heard other former players say the same thing. They can name the play that caused that pain.

How can memories of pain be good? I don't really know except to say that every Spring and every July I still get the longing to put on pads and have someone try and knock me into next week and me do the same to them. Then I remember my age and how bad my knees are and I come to my senses, but the game is still deep inside my core.

I can't fathom a man not wanting to have that kind of connection to something. A connection that you can have even without playing simply because you love the game. How can anyone not be moved by watching Emmitt Smith get up with his shoulder hanging limp by his side and stumble back to the huddle in pain? Then see him on the very next play give it his all as if his life depended on it. How can effort like that not move you to stand up and marvel at the measure of a man's heart and drive?

How can you listen to Michael Irvin bare his soul at the Hall of Fame and talk about how he prays to God that his boys will find some young woman who will make them better husbands than he was, and not be moved to tears? Or hear Troy Aikman's voice crack when he talks about the honor of being a Dallas Cowboy and how he will miss it because he is retiring?

How can anyone not love these kinds of dedication, emotion, and gut wrenching honesty? I don't get it. I don't want to get it. I don't want to understand how they can think that way when in my opinion that's just plain stupid. I don't want to understand stupid. It's just hard for me to accept that some people are just plain dumb even though I see evidence of it every single day. To me, not loving football is dumb.

I just saw a shot of the Kentucky Derby track for today's running of the "The Fastest 2 Minutes in all of Sports," the "Run for the Roses," the "Sport of Kings." The track was muddy. Though I am a horse racing fan and love the Derby one thing came to my mind before I began to think about how this would affect which horse could run good in the mud. How much I love football in the mud. You talk about getting the game all over you, that is when it literally happens. It isn't as artistic as a clean game, but it is every bit as compelling and I can't really explain why. Maybe it's because all boys love the mud and inside mud football brings back the little boy.

Football isn't about the season. If that's all it was the Draft wouldn't compel us so much. We wouldn't be asking when Free Agency starts. We wouldn't care about what qualifies us to receive a Compensatory Draft pick or how much cap room would we have if we got rid of a player who is driving us nuts for whatever reason. Football is an all consuming passion that goes beyond a simple hobby.

How else do you explain how a tribute cartoon drawn on the day Tom Landry and Charles Schulz died and depicting Coach Landry promising to teach Charlie Brown how to kick a football can get inside of so many of us and be an important part of our lives and a lasting memory we cherish?

When a man says to me he doesn't like football I can't help but think of how he is turning his back on all of these kinds of experiences and feelings. That seems a little crazy to me. I just don't completely trust any man who doesn't like football. I think something is wrong inside a man like that.

I love this game.

 

[parchy]

Hah, necktie. Nice, need to get me one of those.

Agreed. My interest always kind of wanes during the summer when there's nothing going on, but I almost like keeping up with the small position battles for backup spots more than anything. Even though it usually doesn't lead to anything, sometimes you find that Romo in the Rough, ya know?

I wear my Cowboys hat all over the place down here in Florida, but nobody ever gives me crap about it. I'm still waiting for it so I can talk back. Maybe you can give me some tips for stirring up trouble, Hos.

 

[bigE79]

Hell of a post hos:clap2:

 

[xpistofer]

Amazing. Simply amazing.
Thank God for football. Thank God for people like Hos who can communicate and pass on their appreciation of it.

Post of the year.

 

[cowboyfan4life_mark]

Although I have invited alot of people to the site, I know of only one that has joined. Their lose.

As for the cheerleaders, in my younger years, one of my uncles actually tried to convince me that the Cowboys got famous because of the cheerleaders!! And no, he was not joking. I guess he would be one that Hos would not trust.

 

[xpistofer]

This from an online blog entry from someone named Eric:

Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!’

I remember the week that Charles Schulz died for two reasons. First of all, it was the very week he wrote his final strip. He “retired,” and then left us.

Yet the second reason I remember his death was because it occurred the exact same week as another legend and all around good man. Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry roamed the sidelines from 1960 through 1989. A deeply religious man, he inspired many.

One of the gentlest and most heartwarming cartoons I have read in a newspaper involved these two men. Tom Landry and Charles Schulz had their backs toward us, getting ready to enter heaven. Tom Landry was wearing his famous fedora, while Charles Schulz was wearing the Charlie Brown t-shirt with the wavy lines. Landry has his arm around Schulz and says to him, “Chuck, it’s time I showed you a thing or two about kicking a football.”

What Tom Landry and Charles Schulz both taught people over their decades behind the bench and the comic strip was that every human being had dignity.

Tom Landry at one point was the Charlie Brown of coaching. He “couldn’t win the big one.”

Coach Landry finished with a pair of Super Bowl rings. He did it the right way, always maintaining his integrity.

Charles Schulz never compromised his integrity with his comic strip. Charlie Brown lost with honor. There was no cheating.

They both left a legacy, and are still influencing people today.

Somewhere up in heaven, they are watching games during the season. Charles Schulz must be better at football now, with Tom Landry teaching fundamentals.

That is all life is about…the fundamentals.

When we get those right, the rest falls into place.

 

[lewpac]

I remember, I was around 22 or 23 yrs. old when I met the first guy EVER who didn't even know the rules or how the game is played. And I remember being dumfounded by that.................

Had no idea at all about the rules.
No idea about the game.
No idea about any teams, college or pro
Had no interest whatsoever what I was talking about, or why all the interest.

This had never happened to me before in all my (back then) 20-some years, and I remember pondering "How the hell could you be a man, grow up in America, and could care less about football?" That was so foreign to me, I just couldn't reconcile it between the ears.

I've since met a few others, guys with "no idea" and could care less. I know that we all, as human beings, see the world through our own ideals and think that if "it's important to me, then of course it's important to EVERYONE". I've learned that this is not necessarily true in life, and in fact is quite arrogant to believe so. Everyone is entitled to their tastes and interestests; Music, food choices, style & clothing, vehicle preferences, on and on and on.............to each his own.

But NOT THIS!! Surely, every male in America not only KNOWS everything there is to know about football, but the sun "rises and sets" over football!!
To me, it's anathema and blasphemous for a man to be so oblivious to the sport, and he's derelict and remiss in his duty's as a man.

A few years back, we had a get-together at our house for something or other during football season. It was a Sunday, so the games were on all day. The guys of course were keeping up with the games all day. This "metro-sexual" type dude was there with his wife and kid, and I guess this was the first time that he ever was exposed to the NFL. He inserted himself amongst "the guys", and I remember him asking all kinds of questions at every twist and turn during the games.

I remember being embarrassed for him, as this one guy literally stood up, got loud, and said "You REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT A FIRST DOWN IS?!?!?!?" "REALLY?!??!?!" This guy literally did not know ANYTHING about the game. A couple of the guys took mercy on him and walked him through a couple of series, explaining everything step by step like I did with my son when he was around three!!

Bottom line: I don't recall ever "learning" the rules of football. Like food, water and air, it was just "there". I don't recall becoming a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. I was around three or four yrs. old, and it was just "there". It's as much a part of my DNA and wiring as is my own flesh and blood. Further more, I never knew a guy before these guys who weren't of the exact same mind. Just as every person on this board is of the same "football nation".

I don't get, never got, and never WILL get guys who have no idea or no interest in the game..........................

 

[juck]

Football is a great game.It however is just that ,a game.People look into it maybe too deep.I think people actually look into it deeper then the actual players do.Basketball is a great game,Soccer(football) is the worlds most popular sport,most people around the world follow it not our football.I went to a Manchester City soccer game and it was way more intense then any US football game I was ever at.Yet it was still a game.Hos its simply not right to assume a man is limp wristed if he doesnt like US football.I went to a Penguin playoff game a couple weeks ago,it was insanity.I dont even really like hockey.Again a game.I dont trust guys who wear sport team ties over 30,lol.JK.I do respect the passion you have for the game.I have it to a few sports too.I have learned tho,at the end of the day to let it go emotionally cause its a game.Do u think Romo lost any sleep after that playoff loss?

 

[SkinsFan28]

Great post Hostile. Full of truths. I like football, I love cheerleaders, I hate the cowboys, but I definitely agree with your sentiments, well written and well expressed.

one mis-statement, Pittsburgh doesnt have cheerleaders. A very good reason to hate them!

 

[lewpac]

Here we go again...............mentioning Soccer and real Football in the same breath.

The reason why Soccer is the worlds "most popular sport" is because 3/4 of the world is third-world destitute, and all you need is a foot and a coconut to play "Soccer". It's popularity in the U.S. resides in the AYSO youth stuff, extends to high school a little, and then fizzles. It's boring as hell. That's why they scream "GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL" whenever there's an actual goal. Because it only happens once every fifth game!

Every 3-4 years, in the U.S., we get assaulted AGAIN with how "Soccer is finally NOW going to catch on with STUPID Americans who don't get what the rest of the world gets". Pele, The U.S. Womens Soccer team, the World Cup, Beckett, etc, etc...............all these things were supposed to finally get us "on board", but it never does.

Hos, I believe, was talking about Football in THIS country and guys in THIS country. And I concur with EVERYTHING he said................

 

[juck]

Here we go again...............mentioning Soccer and real Football in the same breath.

The reason why Soccer is the worlds "most popular sport" is because 3/4 of the world is third-world destitute, and all you need is a foot and a coconut to play "Soccer". It's popularity in the U.S. resides in the AYSO youth stuff, extends to high school a little, and then fizzles. It's boring as hell. That's why they scream "GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL" whenever there's an actual goal. Because it only happens once every fifth game!

Every 3-4 years, in the U.S., we get assaulted AGAIN with how "Soccer is finally NOW going to catch on with STUPID Americans who don't get what the rest of the world gets". Pele, The U.S. Womens Soccer team, the World Cup, Beckett, etc, etc...............all these things were supposed to finally get us "on board", but it never does.

Hos, I believe, was talking about Football in THIS country and guys in THIS country. And I concur with EVERYTHING he said................

I assume u never left this country and attented.

 

[Hostile]

Football is a great game.It however is just that ,a game.People look into it maybe too deep.I think people actually look into it deeper then the actual players do.Basketball is a great game,Soccer(football) is the worlds most popular sport,most people around the world follow it not our football.I went to a Manchester City soccer game and it was way more intense then any US football game I was ever at.Yet it was still a game.Hos its simply not right to assume a man is limp wristed if he doesnt like US football.I went to a Penguin playoff game a couple weeks ago,it was insanity.I dont even really like hockey.Again a game.I dont trust guys who wear sport team ties over 30,lol.JK.I do respect the passion you have for the game.I have it to a few sports too.I have learned tho,at the end of the day to let it go emotionally cause its a game.Do u think Romo lost any sleep after that playoff loss?

Michael Irvin would disagree with you. From his Hall of Fame speech.

Since retiring I have developed a deeper awareness and understanding for this game. First as a fan and then as an analyst. That is why I've learned it's so much more than merely a game. Thanks to ESPN. Thank you, ESPN, for giving me the opportunity to travel to NFL stadiums throughout this country, visiting with fans, and seeing this game from a completely different perspective.



The movie, Remember the Titans, is my favorite movie, staring Denzel Washington. I love the way in this movie the game of football brings those boys together, it unites those boys on that football field. It unites a whole town, black, white, old, young, rich and poor. It happens every year around this time in NFL locker rooms and NFL stadiums. So don't tell me it's just a game.

 

[juck]

I think its obvious to the way you were raised.If u were raised to like football then u will.I was but i know peeps who love other sports or things instead.Heres a better one I dont trust a guy who doesnt watch adult entertainment.I dont trust a man who doesnt like Stern.:laugh2:

 

[Hostile]

I remember, I was around 22 or 23 yrs. old when I met the first guy EVER who didn't even know the rules or how the game is played. And I remember being dumfounded by that.................

Had no idea at all about the rules.
No idea about the game.
No idea about any teams, college or pro
Had no interest whatsoever what I was talking about, or why all the interest.

This had never happened to me before in all my (back then) 20-some years, and I remember pondering "How the hell could you be a man, grow up in America, and could care less about football?" That was so foreign to me, I just couldn't reconcile it between the ears.

I've since met a few others, guys with "no idea" and could care less. I know that we all, as human beings, see the world through our own ideals and think that if "it's important to me, then of course it's important to EVERYONE". I've learned that this is not necessarily true in life, and in fact is quite arrogant to believe so. Everyone is entitled to their tastes and interestests; Music, food choices, style & clothing, vehicle preferences, on and on and on.............to each his own.

But NOT THIS!! Surely, every male in America not only KNOWS everything there is to know about football, but the sun "rises and sets" over football!!
To me, it's anathema and blasphemous for a man to be so oblivious to the sport, and he's derelict and remiss in his duty's as a man.

A few years back, we had a get-together at our house for something or other during football season. It was a Sunday, so the games were on all day. The guys of course were keeping up with the games all day. This "metro-sexual" type dude was there with his wife and kid, and I guess this was the first time that he ever was exposed to the NFL. He inserted himself amongst "the guys", and I remember him asking all kinds of questions at every twist and turn during the games.

I remember being embarrassed for him, as this one guy literally stood up, got loud, and said "You REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT A FIRST DOWN IS?!?!?!?" "REALLY?!??!?!" This guy literally did not know ANYTHING about the game. A couple of the guys took mercy on him and walked him through a couple of series, explaining everything step by step like I did with my son when he was around three!!

Bottom line: I don't recall ever "learning" the rules of football. Like food, water and air, it was just "there". I don't recall becoming a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. I was around three or four yrs. old, and it was just "there". It's as much a part of my DNA and wiring as is my own flesh and blood. Further more, I never knew a guy before these guys who weren't of the exact same mind. Just as every person on this board is of the same "football nation".

I don't get, never got, and never WILL get guys who have no idea or no interest in the game..........................

I am actually jealous of this post it is so good. Just aces man.

 

[juck]

Michael Irvin would disagree with you. From his Hall of Fame speech.

Yea and any player of any sport would say that.What else is he gonna say?He loved the extracarricular activities that came along with it better.lol.

 

[Hostile]

Here we go again...............mentioning Soccer and real Football in the same breath.

The reason why Soccer is the worlds "most popular sport" is because 3/4 of the world is third-world destitute, and all you need is a foot and a coconut to play "Soccer". It's popularity in the U.S. resides in the AYSO youth stuff, extends to high school a little, and then fizzles. It's boring as hell. That's why they scream "GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL" whenever there's an actual goal. Because it only happens once every fifth game!

Every 3-4 years, in the U.S., we get assaulted AGAIN with how "Soccer is finally NOW going to catch on with STUPID Americans who don't get what the rest of the world gets". Pele, The U.S. Womens Soccer team, the World Cup, Beckett, etc, etc...............all these things were supposed to finally get us "on board", but it never does.

Hos, I believe, was talking about Football in THIS country and guys in THIS country. And I concur with EVERYTHING he said................

I actually feel like my hard work is tainted by the mere mentioning of that debacle.

 

[juck]

You guys need to get out more.lol.I assume u guys are married,if u guys were single out chasing women you would understand the most essential priority.:laugh2:

 

[bbgun]

I have a bro-in-law who has absolutely no interest in sports (not just football), yet somehow managed to sire two sons. I fear for their futures.

 

[Hostile]

This from an online blog entry from someone named Eric:

Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!’

I remember the week that Charles Schulz died for two reasons. First of all, it was the very week he wrote his final strip. He “retired,” and then left us.

Yet the second reason I remember his death was because it occurred the exact same week as another legend and all around good man. Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry roamed the sidelines from 1960 through 1989. A deeply religious man, he inspired many.

One of the gentlest and most heartwarming cartoons I have read in a newspaper involved these two men. Tom Landry and Charles Schulz had their backs toward us, getting ready to enter heaven. Tom Landry was wearing his famous fedora, while Charles Schulz was wearing the Charlie Brown t-shirt with the wavy lines. Landry has his arm around Schulz and says to him, “Chuck, it’s time I showed you a thing or two about kicking a football.”

What Tom Landry and Charles Schulz both taught people over their decades behind the bench and the comic strip was that every human being had dignity.

Tom Landry at one point was the Charlie Brown of coaching. He “couldn’t win the big one.”

Coach Landry finished with a pair of Super Bowl rings. He did it the right way, always maintaining his integrity.

Charles Schulz never compromised his integrity with his comic strip. Charlie Brown lost with honor. There was no cheating.

They both left a legacy, and are still influencing people today.

Somewhere up in heaven, they are watching games during the season. Charles Schulz must be better at football now, with Tom Landry teaching fundamentals.

That is all life is about…the fundamentals.

When we get those right, the rest falls into place.

Eric nailed it.

 

[Hostile]

You guys need to get out more.lol.I assume u guys are married,if u guys were single out chasing women you would understand the most essential priority.:laugh2:

Football got me more girls than you've ever had wet dreams about from "adult entertainment."