Monday, January 5, 2009

Any Given Sunday

There's a lot about the National Football League to quibble over...from the intensely dissected peep-show referee reviews to the clothing police who roam the sidelines making sure that no player reveals even a hint of calf or no coach wears anything that doesn't sport the logo of the league's official clothing supplier (name rhymes with "Pea-cok.")

But doggone it, when the playoffs are here, the whole town gets all worked up. Even grownups extend Halloween into January and wear the replica jerseys of their favorites to work or wherever. It's important to accessorize, so sometimes just a little added adornment shows your loyalty. A dab of color and some judiciously-applied beadwork helps define one's image.



We're Baltimore Ravens fans here, if all the purple doesn't give it away already. We know how sad it is to have your fan heart ripped out by the roots in the middle of the night and how it feels to go without a team for 12 long years. It says a lot about Baltimore that the Colts Marching Band continued to play and practice for those 12 years. It also says a lot about Baltimore that people name their kids after football stars, so that now and again you will meet a man in his late 40s with a name like Alan Ameche Goldstein or Gino Marchetti O'Hoolahan, and I predict that soon we will add Ray Lewis Finnerty and Edwina Reed Packwood to our town citizenry.

Funny how one can draw comparisons to the musical "The Music Man," which demonstrated how an entire community can be unified and energized, even by an abstract concept such as a marching band that doesn't really exist. Even people who aren't noted for an interest in sports get into football at this time of the year. The Ravens won today and so they advance in the playoffs, with their next game to be played Saturday afternoon in Tennessee. You can bet (oops) that between now and then, thousands of purple T-shirts, camo pants and caps will be sold, thousands of cheers for the likes of Ed Reed
and Ray Lewis will be launched skyward, and lots of hearts will be made gladder. If your team isn't in the playoffs this year, I invite you to share our adrenalin lift. Next year will be your turn (not valid in Indianapolis, IN.)

It's fun!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love my Ed Reed Jersey! And, my Ed Reed wallpaper! On and on I could go. It's good to be worked up about a team. Let's see how I feel next week at this time!