Lucy#1 loved professional football. The Dallas Cowboys were
her favorite team, but she was a huge fan of the sport and loved to watch all
the teams. Leroy was not a big fan; he would sometimes start watching a
game with Lucy#1, but he didn’t really care and usually fell asleep in front of
the TV. Football was a Very Big Deal for Lucy#1; she never missed a pro game if she
could help it.
Lucy#1 worked in the office at a local sporting goods store. Most of the employees (particularly the college-aged guys) were serious football fans. Every year at the store, there was a football pool, and every
year Lucy#1 paid her money to be in the pool. She was often the only female who
participated.
She won, too – not every year, but more than once, and often
enough that it bothered some of the guys. They didn’t like losing their money
to a woman as old as their moms. (Lucy#1 was probably in her mid-40s at
the time.) One year at the store Christmas party, a couple of the guys struck
up a conversation with Leroy and told him he should stop helping her pick her
teams since he didn’t work at the store. Leroy got a huge hoot out of the looks
on their faces when he told them he didn’t watch football, that Lucy#1 was the football
fanatic in our house, and she chose her own teams for the pool. Those guys were
shocked! Lucy#1 became a bit of a legend at the store after that!
When I graduated from college, I moved back home for a year
to build up a little nest egg. I was not a football fan, so at first when the football
games came on, I would go to my room. Along about the end of the first quarter,
Lucy#1 would come to my room and say, “Come watch the game with me.” I’d
protest that I didn’t like football, and she would say, “It’s no fun to watch
by myself. Your dad’s asleep. Bring your book to read and just sit in there
with me. Please?”
Ugh!! I didn’t want to do it, but she was so persuasive that
I would go to the living room to be companionable. Unfortunately for me, I
could not concentrate on a book while the game was on, partly because for whatever
reason my eyes were just drawn to the television when it was on, and partly
because Lucy#1 was a very enthusiastic sports fan. She celebrated every good
play and chastised at the players and/or coaches on every bad play. She would
leap to her feet and yell, “Go! Go! Go!” when someone was running the ball down
the field. She would excitedly say, “Did you see that?! Wow, what a throw!” or whatever
was appropriate for an excellent play, and would make me watch the replay.
After a while, I gave up even trying to avoid watching
football and would be in front of the TV with Lucy #1 when the game began. In
the beginning, I had no clue what was going on or who the players were or what
positions they played or the purpose of any position. (What’s a tail back? He’s
the tight end? What??) My ignorance did
not last long because Lucy#1 set out to educate me on her favorite sport. She
explained everything I did not understand; she happily answered all my
questions. By the end of that season I had a decent understanding of the game.
I would jump up and yell at the TV when the Cowboys were playing. I knew the
name, number, and position of each and every Dallas Cowboy, and I knew their
faces, too. I had learned the name and number of every single quarterback in
the NFL, and knew every team by its city, mascot, and team colors. It cracked
Leroy up to no end and it kind of cracked me up, too, in a sort of horrified way.
Lucy#1 was very proud of me, and would quiz me, I think just for the
entertainment of knowing she had taught me so well.
As planned, I moved into an apartment after a year of living at home. I never voluntarily watched another football game. I think Lucy#1 may have
been a little disappointed that I didn’t become a fan after my year of total immersion,
but she didn’t hold my lack of interest against me.
I’m still not a football fan, and at this point I’ve
forgotten pretty much everything Lucy#1 taught me about the game. To this day, though, whenever I see anything
about the Dallas Cowboys, I remember that crazy year of football watching, and
grin just a little bit while I think of Lucy#1 and me yelling at the TV
together.
(By the way, the year of TwoLucys Football was so long ago
that Tom Landry was the Dallas coach and Danny White was the quarterback. And
Charlie Waters was mighty fine at the time. J)
