Growing up, my family was not a “sports” family. I did not grow up watching weekly sports on TV, with the exception of national championships, and we were not fans of any specific team. Little did I know that sports would soon be a major part of my life.
Fast forward to when I was 18 years old, at the beginning of my first semester at UConn {go Huskies!}, and tailgating at Rentschler Field for a UConn versus Syracuse Friday night match-up. I had a drink in hand and I was ready for a fun night out, bonding with my new dorm mates and cheering on our beloved Huskies. While I was walking into that game 14 years ago, I casually started talking to a fellow student and complimented him on his nice biceps. Seven years later, the guy with the nice biceps became my husband and we now have two beautiful daughters. Through a football game, fate intervened and my life from then on would forever be changed. I still get chills when I think about that night and how football played a pivotal part in determining my fate.
How does this story about meeting my husband at a UConn football game connect to my story about not growing up as a “sports” family? For starters, my husband loves sports. He not only enjoys watching and playing sports, he even majored in Athletic Training at UConn {he is now the Head Athletic Trainer for football and baseball at the University of New Haven!}.
From the day that I met my husband, you could find us on any given Thursday, Sunday, or Monday from September through January, watching football. When you are married to a sports fanatic, you become a sports fan by virtue. Football especially has a special place in our hearts because it is the sport that brought us together and is always a constant presence in our lives. Over the years, my husband has taught me about football and I’ve grown to enjoy it. One of my favorite seasons now is “fantasy football season” and I even compete in more leagues than my husband does! Although it’s not the way I grew up, I am proud to call us a “sports” family.
Throughout the years, football has become so much more than a game to us as a couple and as a family. It means watching a UConn football game and reminiscing about the night we met and our college days. It means laughing about the late November football game that I wore flip flops to and my husband gave me his socks to wear. It means drafting our fantasy football lineups together at our kitchen counter. It means an excuse to get together with friends to share a Sunday meal and watch the games. It means bringing my daughters to cheer on the UNH Chargers football team, even on a brisk November day. It means the pride we felt when we watched our nephews go from learning to play youth football to watching them play on their high school football teams. It means fondly remembering when our oldest daughter sat in her green Bumbo seat at 3 months old watching football and a year later when she first learned to say “Go football!” at the TV while sitting in her high chair. It means wearing matching Minnesota Vikings shirts.
Football matters because it is the reason we are a family; without it, I may have never met my husband and our family may not exist. Football not only brings our family together, but also brings our family together with other families.
