Fall = Football

I love fall. The leaves turning beautiful shades of red and gold . . . falling to the earth and getting stuck in my windshield wipers, along the seams of my car doors and trunk and the fact that they manage to all find their way into my nice clean car. In all seriousness, I do enjoy fall. The temperatures are perfect for running and best of all . . . football season.

A few years ago, I met some guys at work who were huge Oregon State football fans. More often than not, we had a conversation on Friday where upon learning that my only plans for the weekend were studying (I was in grad school at the time), they imparted upon me notice that they would pick me up at some ungodly hour of the morning and were taking me to the football game. Now I find myself writing a check each spring for season tickets.

Like most sports I’ve never played, I’m familiar enough to understand the basic rules but am far from an expert. Each fall I try and learn a new rule or play, last year I learned about the blitz. I have a theory that someday I’m going to meet some cute football fan and he’s going to want to teach me something, so it wouldn’t be prudent to any future relationship to learn everything on my own. Besides, I currently know enough to sound mostly intelligent while getting away with some ignorance because I’m a girl. A perfect combination if you ask me.

Last weekend was an away game that was shown on a TV channel that I actually get. So my Saturday night was spent yelling at my TV in the privacy of my own home, hoping that my apartment neighbors didn’t think I was too crazy. Around the second quarter I realized that not only was I yelling the standard “Run, Quizz, Run!” but off sides, false start and pass interference were making an appearance in my ranting at the TV. Even more amazing, I had the uses of off sides and false start correct!

Why do I love fall? Yes, the leaves are pretty, but nothing brings my group of close friends together like college football. When else do you have six full Saturdays designated for doing nothing other than hanging out, eating and drinking, watching football and cheering for your team? Go Beavs.