The Face of Football's Newest Fan

I am totally NOT into sports. Never have been. Though, I will admit that three or so decades ago when the World Series was between the KC Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals, I DID briefly "get into it" and actually watched with enthusiasm. Don't remember who won though...it HAS been probaby almost 30 years ago, after all! I think that was the last baseball game I ever watched (and probably the first)...and I have yet to watch over 30 seconds of a football game EVER. At least I UNDERSTAND the rules to baseball...I don't KNOW the rules to football so what would be the point of watching?

Along came my exceedingly compatible husband who also has absolutely no interest at all in sports. Then, Darcy was home-schooled kindergarten through seventh grade in a home that never watched a moment's worth of any sport. So, I shouldn't have been shocked when, two days ago she casually asked me, "Mom, now is the Superbowl a TENNIS match or a FOOTBALL game?" Such was the depth of her experience with football. THAT however did not stop her from happily attending a Superbowl party held for the church youth yesterday. When we asked her why she would want to GO to a Superbowl Party when she didn't have any interest in football, she confidently replied, "Oh, NOBODY'S going to watch the game. We're just going to party!" At least she left our house secure in the knowledge that it was a FOOTBALL game she was going to be partying over!

Well, many hours later, it was a hard-core football fan that walked back through our doors! She was still hooping and hollering over the fact that "her" team won. I was shocked and said, "How could YOU have a team? You didn't even know it was going to be a football game!" Darcy explained that when she got there, everyone else was rooting for the Cardinals, so, in typical Darcy fashion, she instantly decided that SHE was a Steeler's fan. From the sounds of it, they all watched the game intently and Darcy was delighted that "her" team won...and was gleeful in rubbing it in everyone else's face. She has decided she loves football!

On a side-note, my one daughter who has "absolutely no interest in boys EVER" has been getting an awful lot of calls from a certain young man. When I asked her about this, she replied, "Oh...he just wants me to help him with his math homework." Seems to me, though, that that was the same young man she plopped down beside at the theater not long ago when our church had a showing of "Prince Caspian" (course there were three boys all sitting together there with her...jumping at her beck and call...happily jumping up in the middle of the movie to run get her refills of popcorn, etc, so, I hadn't yet zeroed in on this one particular young man, yet, with my motherly concern). Last night, though, two minutes before Grant left to take Darcy to the Superbowl party, her phone rang. The conversation went like this, "Yeah. We're leaving now." Darcy doesn't talk much in hearing of her parents...and it is so hard to figure out much from one such meager line! So, nosey mother that I am, I asked, "Who was that?" Turns out it was the boy with the math impairment just calling to see when Darcy was leaving for the Superbowl party. (Making sure she WAS coming, probably.) Hmmm...

(besides, those of you who know Darcy, know how fond she is of MATH (she detests math!)...the fact that she is happily tutoring him over the phone on "MATH", of all things, speaks volumes on its own!)

First math and now football...what is my daughter coming to?!