20 years ago, if you had asked me what i felt about this game i would have told you that it was stupid, it was just about a bunch of over-sized muscle heads trying to to beat each other up but too chicken to do it without helmets and pads like rugby players.
I grew up in a different place where other sports provoked emotions and passion similar to those expressed by Hos in the original post. I didn't have the exposure to football until i came to the US in the late 1980s. For the first few years, i couldn't understand the game, it didn't appear to have an rules, strategy or reason. As far as i was concerned, you either threw the ball or gave it to someone to run with it while smaller guys run around like crazy or/and the bigger guys slammed their bodies against each other. It all took half a minute or less and then they stopped and took a break, sometimes for a few seconds and other times for a couple of minutes and then came back and did the same thing again. There was a lot i didn't understand about the game.
It wasn't until the early 1990's that I really started to learn about the game. I lived and bartended in the Dallas area, and the excitement and passion about the team called the Dallas Cowboys was in the air. That's all everybody at the bar wanted to watch and ever wanted to talk about. I slowly started to learn about the game, thanks to my regular clientele, although at times irritated, nevertheless had the patience to take the time to explain some of the nuances about the game and educate me about the league in general. Most of all it was my best friend, who was born and raised in the Dallas area and is the biggest fan i know, who really taught me most of what i know about the game. We watched games together and he would explain to me about the different positions and their responsibilities, different offensive and defensive schemes, etc....
I don't remember when it first happened or if it happened gradually but at some point in the last 15 years, my Sunday's became off limits to friends and family members who weren't into the game. I started reading about the cowboys on a daily basis. I joined this forum five years ago and started lurking to picking up whatever information i could about the game. I started following the draft and looking at mock drafts on a yearly basis. In sum, i became totally consumed with the sport.
My wife, who is an American, came from a family that didn't watch a lot of sports, or TV in general. But right off the bat she knew about my passion about this sport the the other that should remain nameless
. During football season, the days the Boys play is out of the question in regards to doing things together unless its watching the game. Sundays and Monday nights, as well as Thursday and Saturday evenings later in the season are also doubtful unless it is something extremely important. I love her to death for understanding.
I can't speak about this sport from the perspective of someone who grew up with it and/or who has played it. With the exception of a few games of flag football with my buddies, i've never played it for real. That doesn't stop me from fantasizing about the different positions i could have played or would have liked to play though. I still have a lot to learn about the game and this forum has taught me more than i ever imagined.
Anyway, I loved hearing about your passion for the game Hos (and others), it's that kind of passion for the game which i saw in my best friend and people around me that attracted me to the game and drove me to learn about it. I never thought i would feel this passionately about a sport that i didn't grow up with nor did i think, when i first started to learn about it, that it would arouse similar kinds of emotions and passion to those sports that i grew up with.
I love this game.
:skins::giants::eagles:
:america:
