Fall. 
It’s that time of year when the weather cools down, the leaves change and you see pumpkin everything, right? Wrong. In my house Fall means one thing, and one thing only, Longhorn Football.
It’s not that I don’t like football – that’s not the case at all – it’s just that until I met my husband I knew absolutely nothing about it. Sure, I went to football games in high school and college, but for me those were social functions. Not sporting events. I was there to see my friends, chit-chat and eat stadium food. The fact that there was a game going on was secondary, at best.
My husband and his family love football. Like, they looove it. I was a newbie to the whole idea of spending free time voluntarily watching Sportsball, as I jokingly refer to it. While I could certainly identify a football in a lineup of sportsballs, I couldn’t tell you three things about the game. When we were dating, my husband made his best attempts to slowly introduce me to the insane UT fandom by presenting me with my first Longhorn shirt, it was pink and had a subtle Longhorn on it. Baby steps.
And now here I am, sporting burnt orange, taking my girls to football games and watching (a little bit) of football with my husband. So if you are like me and are a new to Texas, football or the crazy combination of the two (no matter the team…Longhorns, Red Raiders, Bears, Aggies, Horned Frogs, etc), here’s a little inside info from one newbie to the next.
- Monkey see, monkey do. Clap when everyone else claps. And by that same token, sigh or furrow your brow when everyone else does the same. They’ll never know you don’t know whatever it is they know.
- Those aren’t gang signs. Hook ‘em, Wreck ‘em. Sick ‘em. Gig ‘em. Most schools in this part of the country have a saying and a hand gesture to go with it. Learn those and you’ll blend right in.
- The game clock is merely a suggestion. When the clock says there are 3 minutes remaining, go ahead and settle in because there are 30 minutes remaining (if you’re lucky).
- Turkey with a side of pigskin. Who knew Thanksgiving was such a big football day? Clearly not me. But if your husband/family likes the Cowboys or Longhorns, plan on enjoying your pie in front of a flat screen.
Bake it ‘till you make it. Your lack of football knowledge can be easily disguised with freshly baked and themed appetizers or treats.
- TBD. If you like to plan your weekends in advance, those three letters are your new worst enemy. Sometimes games times aren’t released until the week before. And making plans around “sometime on Saturday” isn’t the easiest thing to work with.
- A Three Hour Tour. A typical football game lasts 3 hours, probably more, definitely not less.
And if all else fails…
There’s always the nail salon. You know one place that won’t be blasting football on every TV and iPad? Your friendly neighborhood nail salon. I like to take advantage of a napping baby and a football preoccupied husband by taking my 5 year old daughter with me for a little pampering.
