Two

Two ... two days! I can hardly stand it!

For today's blog post ... in the countdown to football with blog posts ... Girls Who Love Football.

I've always enjoyed sports. I am an only child, and my Dad loves sports, so I really had no choice. My sport of choice was softball, but I never really got good at it until college. I also always loved to run (and still do), which is important in most sports.

When I got to Notre Dame I played softball and flag football for my dorm. 99.9% of Notre Dame students not only go to the Notre Dame football games, but most of them also play on their dorm's football team if they're not on THE team, so it helps (in almost all social circles) if you know a little bit about the game and what is going on.

I never thought all of those years of watching Notre Dame football games with Dad would eventually pay off. I very quickly learned once I got to college, that if you were a girl ... and you knew, really knew, the rules of football ... you would have a lot of guy friends. Then add on top of it a little athletic talent. Golden.

My softball career was cut short my Sophomore year in college when I got hit (hard) with a line drive to my collar bone and it snapped. My coach told me that I was fine and I pitched the rest of the game with tears running down my face. We won the game and they went on to the playoffs without me. Bummer.

I proceeded to walk from that game, to dinner, and then to the computer lab before I decided to go to the infirmary. After they took me to St. Joe's Hospital and had x-rays taken, and found out it was BROKEN, they asked me ... what took you so long to come in?

One other side note on this broken collar bone story, they can't put you in a cast when you break your collar bone. They put you in this crazy immobilizing brace so that you can't move it, and that is how it's supposed to heal. So forget carrying a tray in the dining hall, or your books to class, or ... a lot of things! Not gonna happen.

So the day after I break my collar bone, one of my good friends is carrying my dining hall tray to the table as I am getting something to drink. This guy comes up to me and asks, "Football injury?" And I say, "No, softball injury. I got hit with a line drive and broke my collar bone." To which he replies, "You gotta catch those ... I'm the pitcher for the Men's Baseball team." Aghh.

Besides playing softball, my friends and I also played flag football for our dorm. I was a nose tackle of all things, and we were pretty good, but until our senior year we couldn't really seem to get it all together. Our senior year though, we were on fire. We had this amazing little quarterback, and the team could not be stopped. We listened to "Eye of the Tiger" before every game, and we did it. We made it to the championship game, which we got to play IN Notre Dame stadium. Not only did we get to play our championship game IN Notre Dame stadium, it was the day after the Notre Dame/Penn State "Snow Bowl" ... so this made an otherwise amazing weekend even MORE amazing!

We had the game of our lives that Sunday. We could do no wrong. I even sacked the QB, and my Dad got it all on film (he happened to be in town that weekend for the Penn State game). Outstanding. And as a result of winning the championship game, we got the opportunity to buy letterman jackets, just like the football players got, but only ours would say that we were the flag football champions. Duh ... that was a no brainer!

We got our jackets in January and I could not wait to wear it to class!! I am sitting in Advertising class, that first day after getting my jacket, and I hear the two guys sitting behind me (one of which is a soccer player, and one of which is a football player) talking amongst themselves ... "Who is she dating?? Whose jacket is she wearing??"

To which I turn around and say ... "it's MINE!" Now *that* was quite a moment!

As the years have gone by, I am still amazed and how many guys are pleasantly surprised when I open my mouth and start talking about football, and actually know what I am talking about. I have played Fantasy Football with my husband for years, and I am the only girl in the league, and boy do they get mad when I'm doing better than they are!! And I am teaching my daughter all about football now ... because, at 10, she has already figured it out for herself that boys like girls who play sports and who are knowledgeable about sports! And she is a budding athlete already ... soccer, volleyball, and cross country. She is gonna be just fine!

Here's to all of the girls who love football!

Cheers!