The Alexander City Outlook

‘Sorry Honey, it’s football season’

Fall is my favorite time of year.

I love everything about the season, from the cooler temperatures to the beautiful colors. I especially enjoy watching the leaves change and eventually fall to the ground.

Even though some people might find this hard to believe, I look forward to getting outside and raking the yard. To me, there’s nothing like watching your kids jump into a big pile of leaves on a cool, clear day in late October.

I must confess, however, there is another – maybe even more important – reason I love this time of year. Fall represents the start of football season. Each summer I count the days until high school, college, and pro football starts. To me, nothing is better than lounging around the house every weekend watching my favorite teams on TV.

Unfortunately, my love of football has created problems in my household over the past several years. My wife, Karen, hates football. Well, “hate” might be too strong a word. But, I’m safe in saying she doesn’t care for the game near as much as I do.

The reason behind this disdain has a lot to do with her interests, which includes things like playing classical guitar, art, painting and other activities that some men – yes, I’m one of these men – find a bit boring, especially when compared to the excitement of watching athletes compete on the gridiron.

Regardless of Karen’s attitude toward the game, I have to admit I’ve created a lot of these aforementioned problems all by myself. When I first met Karen I probably didn’t “emphasize” my love for watching football that much. To be honest, I was a love sick puppy the first few weeks we dated and consequently I was willing to go to art galleries and classical guitar concerts on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, after a few months of dating I began to “emphasize” football more and art galleries less. I still would go to places she liked, but I could not have cared less about the particular nuances of a piece of art she was viewing. My main concern was the score of the game I was missing due to being held hostage in these places.

After I secured her hand in marriage, I slowly revealed my true nature. Finally, Karen learned the whole truth one day when I yelled at the TV about some boneheaded call.

She was shocked. To this day she claims I misled her and covered up the truth. For some reason she just doesn’t understand the difference between lying and “not emphasizing.”

At any rate, things haven’t been the same between us since that day. She pesters me constantly during the fall about going to festivals, hiking in the woods, and other non-football related activities. She continuously reminds me how I “changed” after marriage in an attempt to produce guilt in my mind.

Sometimes it almost works. The pained look in her face at the beginning of each season almost gets to me. But I forget all of that on opening weekend.

It’s amazing how seeing a kickoff cleanses the soul of all guilt. Sorry honey, it’s football season again.

Roger Steele is general manager and advertising director of The Alexander City Outlook.