How Football Can Fan a Man's Flame for Passion

This is the year I vow to uncover why the two sexes suffer emotional arrhythmia. We often miss a harmonious beat, whether it is too fast, too slow or not in sync at all. To get to the crux, I need to look at the symptoms of this ailment.

No. 1 Sport Psychosis

It’s been a banner season for football — the most seriously apathetic sport fan would have to agree to this simple fact. I’m a huge fan and totally appreciate the “moments” — from Tim’s genuflect to Vernon’s crying jag. After the victories, I relish a bit, but then I move on.
 
My husband, on the other hand, claims ownership of it ALL, and adds up games and stats, bad calls and replays to his never-ending arsenal of sport trivia. For now I’ll stick to football, but his mental machine also churns to baseball, basketball, marathons and some lacrosse in the mix. He can recall, chapter and verse, where he was EXACTLY at the shocking “Heidi Bowl” moment in 1968 or during the “Immaculate Reception” in 1972. I on the other hand enjoy instant recall only when it comes to what a great outfit I pulled together on New Year’s Eve four years ago.

Last Saturday night, after the Saints did not come marching in, we cheered and shouted and savored it all. Some hours later, I looked up from the book I was reading in bed to see his silhouette with his nose a few inches from the TV screen. Questioning his behavior (sanity?) he replied, “I need to savor it just one more time.”

My husband never has to write down a phone number. He channels a few football players’ jersey numbers and that’s that. Namath, Rice, Edwards or some similar configuration and he’s got it. Forever more. NO woman can do that. Nada.
 
One day we were walking and talking and he began to tell the tale of slow-motion football, “Slo Mo” as he and his friends called it “back in the day.” I was so entertained by his delivery and by all the historical, social and musical perspective he incorporated into the memory that I suggested we put together a TV pilot, using some of Novato’s finest actors in the re-creation (see attached video).

What I did at that moment was to aid and abet his sports addiction. I gave him fuel to fan the fire of the passion that makes men love sports in a way few women understand. I realized for good or bad — arrhythmia is the result of electrical activity in the heart — and he managed to jumpstart mine pretty good. It was an intense, “viva la difference moment!”