Guest Blog: It’s a GIRL!

OK guys, we have done guest blogs before but this one will be a bit different.  It’s the first time in PGH history that a female has posted on our site.  Let’s clean up the place a little bit, vacuum, put the dishes away, and try to act like we aren’t slobs.  A lady is in the house.

[Editors Note: You might want to email this article/link to the women in your life.]

Let me first mention that I am really excited to post at PGH.com. I might even go as far as to say I am a bit proud as I am the first female to write a post for this site. Don’t let that mention of pride scare you I am far from a feminist. I am disclosing this right off the bat because it happens to be important to what I am going to talk about.

I love the fall, it’s without a doubt my favorite season. I love the weather, and the holidays (who doesn’t like Thanksgiving? A day dedicated to giving thanks and ah, hello, tons of yummy food!) However, what I love most about the fall may surprise you; it’s football. That’s right, I said it, FOOTBALL. Let me clarify things a bit here before any of you say “Yeah but I bet she is …” fill in the blank with any number of unfeminine adjectives. I am straight, already married (read: don’t have to pretend to like football), did not grow up with any brothers, and I am actually quite the girly-girl. I love theater, shopping, baking, I hate snakes, and my favorite color has been and will forever be pink.

I get highly annoyed at the beginning of each football season as the media begins talk of football as if it is women’s worst nightmare. At the center of all this is the term “Football Widow”. I have heard it multiple times over the past few weeks. I even saw a segment about it on a morning show. I couldn’t believe that the show was spending so much time on the subject! I always thought that the term was some cheesy cliché that some female anchor made as she “tossed it” over to the sports reporter to speak about it being football time again.

I did some quick research on the term. Wikipedia has a definition for it and if you Google the phrase, dozens of articles about women feeling downright abandoned for several months each year due to this “dreadful” game appear before you. No wonder that people that I work with or if it somehow comes up in a conversation with people at a party that I love watching football everyone looks at me all confused and says, “you do, really??” I feel sorry for guys out there whose, wives, girlfriends, and significant others become perturbed and even downright angry that their partners look forward to entire afternoons and evenings in front of the TV. Maybe I am just lucky, I have a husband who knows quite a bit about football (all sports for that matter; who the heck knows the rules of sports like water polo and curling for instance?) and doesn’t mind answering my questions about the different rules and strategies of the gridiron.

It probably has helped my interest level that I am competitive by nature and have participated in a fantasy league for the past few years. In the end, I am still thru and thru that same girly-girl and the money I win from a fantasy football victory could buy a very nice pair of shoes!! Sorry I can’t help it!

So don’t be shocked the next time you are chatting up some beautiful blonde or bombshell brunette and they say that they love to watch football too. Granted there are the girls out there who will tell you what you want to hear in order to capture your initial interest….. but there are plenty of regular women out there who enjoy the season just as much as their male partners. So pull up that stat tracker and pass the chips & salsa…. I’m ready once again for my Sunday afternoons in front of the widescreen.

Oh, and for all of you wondering, my favorite player isn’t some popular quarterback I’ve been exposed to via US Weekly or People Magazine, it’s Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Stillers!