I seem to be strangely obsessed with football lately. And I don’t just mean Bronco football, which should be no surprise, but I mean college football in general. You see, my husband’s family has a tradition…a little something called a Bowl Challenge.
At the end of every season we make our picks for each of the bowl games. We score points for calling the winner, points for choosing the right scores, and points for guessing the margin of victory. I’ve got to tell you, I’m a little obsessed…I poured over statistics, chose my winning teams by their average offensive scoring over the season and determined the final scores by choosing which defense was stronger. It’s been on my mind for a week now. The anticipation was killing me! Until yesterday.
The bowl season kicked off with BYU and UTEP. I was all smiles when BYU came away with the win. And then there was the Humanitarian Bowl. Steve and I had the opportunity to see N. Illinois and Fresno fight it out on the Blue in person…Steve was rooting for Fresno (being true to the WAC), and I was cheering on the Huskies (I was all about the stats). It made for a very tense anniversary celebration…that’s right, we decided we couldn’t miss the game, so we celebrated our first wedding anniversary with football. Yeah, we’re crazy like that!
In celebration of N. Illinois coming away with the win…uh, I mean…in celebration of our anniversary, Steve took me out to dinner. I chose Red Robin. For two reasons. One, I’m in love with their Bonzai Burger. And two, we were dressed for football…I couldn’t see myself walking into a fancy place…I mean, “Hellooooo Hillbillies!” So we played it safe. Of course, while we gazed into each other’s eyes over a romantic meal of burgers and fries, we snuck glances at the New Orleans Bowl playing on the televisions that surrounded us. Hey, I had to keep an eye on my pick…I needed Troy to do well. I have my eye on the prize, after all.
Speaking of prizes, back to the tradition…the winner of the Bowl Challenge wins the trophy. That’s right, a real life shiny trophy. And you know us girls, we like shiny! So, you can bet I was super excited to hear this morning that I’m on top with the highest score so far…this makes me happy. Let’s just hope my picks continue to make me proud. If I continue to do well, Steve and I may end up with this little beauty on our mantle and have the title, “Champion,” for a year.
Hey Dad, bet you never thought you’d see the day your little girl would be so into football, did ya? I’d like to blame Steve for this…but I’m afraid it’s just my obsession with a good competition that’s driving this one.
{ 1 comment }
Yes, congratulations on the fine start. I am glad you are enjoying the competition.