OT: Marriage and sports

[SCREAM]

In honor of BP's "I burned my tickets to the Eagles' preseason game to make my wife happy" post ...

Are you single, engaged, married, etc?

How has this affected your sports watching / cheering?

Is your spouse originally a fan of Philly sports fans?

If not, does he/she even like to watch sports?

If not, is he/she a fan of another city's teams?

Have you convinced your wife/husband to follow Philly teams?

How much flack to you get for sitting in front of the TV all day on Sundays (and other times you watch sports)?

Do you have any deals with the spouse, like leave me alone on weekends during the fall, and I'll take you on a vacation that you want in the Spring?

Etc.

[eaglefan55]

My wife is from Louisanna, Likes the Saints because her dad did, but she bleeds eagle green because I do. Since being married I limit my watching of other sporting events that aren't as important but when it comes to the eagles or any game that I really think is important I sacrifice nothing. every now and then I watch a sixer game or the phillies when I can get it but those aren't as important to me so I don't make any issue about them

In return I respect and try to embrace her things that she is passionate about and if there is something on TV that she wants to watch then I will watch it with her except like chick flicks and stuff, steel magnolias etc. But have and will watch stuff like American Idol because she wants to. It's my reaching out and embracing her stuff that's important.

I don't listen to sports radio when my wife is the car although I would if she wasn't, It's an opportunity to demonstrate that she is more important.

If there is something on tv that conflicts with the eagles she will watch the smaller TV in the game/exercise room.

Usually all day Sunday(after church) is football. she respects that but I'll move off the couch if there's something really important to her and the eagles game is over or hasn't come on yet.

Our marriage works well this way but ultimately the marriage is more important than football. As long she knows that I really feel that way, and it's my job to make sure thru other things that she does, then there will not be any conflict over football.

[Eagle Diehard]

Scream,

My wife and I have been married for 16 years now, and have been together for 18 years.

The first few years were rough!! Being a non sports fan she couldn't understand why the Eagles game meant so much, and how a lose could affect my mood and desire to hang out or go to somesocial event.

It also drove her nuts that I would not go to an event because it conflicted with the game or why (before NFL ticket) I spent most Sundays (when we were living in North Jersey) at the sports bar.

That said, after years of this, with me being adamant and not conceding anything related to the Eagles we are now at this point, where if she gets a a call/invitation for us to attend an event or if friends are talking about coming over during football season she is non commital (indicating that she needed to check with me). She would then ask me what time the Eagles are playing on the specific date.

So, I now have a situation where, Sundays during football season is understood to be drivien by the Eagles schedule. So even our attending church (early service or later) is dictated by when the Eagles are playing.

[Eagle Diehard]

Our marriage works well this way but ultimately the marriage is more important than football. As long she knows that I really feel that way, and it's my job to make sure thru other things that she does, then there will not be any conflict over football.

EF55,

I agree with you here. When the Eagles are not on or when the season is over, I am not as hooked on other sports or other activities, so I am willing to make concessions to the things she is interested in doing.

In addition, since I have the NFL Sunday ticket, she is cool knowing that I am home and she can run out and leave the kids with me if neccessary. It's great, my four kids are all Eagles fans and will usually watch a portion of the game with me, but have learned to not ask daddy a lot of questions until there is a commercial.

[SCREAM]

Also bring this topic up because my girlfriend has proposed:

She'll give in to watching and rooting for the Eagles/Sixers/Phillies/etc. IF I'll give in to watching the Devils and give up rooting for the Flyers.

Considering that the Flyers are 4th in my book in town, it's not that bad of a deal, but I turned it down for now.

[Browser]

I am married to a non-sports fan. She does not understand - AT ALL. It can be quite frustrating. She has learned to "tolerate" my passion. She does not like it when I spend time watching sports in general. I have tried to cut down to only Philly teams. Since I live in Los Angeles, the Philly teams are not on as much anyway. We try not to watch TV during the week, to help the kids avoid too much television. But if the Eagles are on Monday or Thursday I do insist on watching. She is OK with that - most of the time. It can really be frustrating, for both of us. She does not get it, and I can not help but be a fan. But after 10 years we have learned to work around it.

[eaglefan55]

Also bring this topic up because my girlfriend has proposed:

She'll give in to watching and rooting for the Eagles/Sixers/Phillies/etc. IF I'll give in to watching the Devils and give up rooting for the Flyers.

Considering that the Flyers are 4th in my book in town, it's not that bad of a deal, but I turned it down for now.

That's a tough one. While rooting for the eagles/sixers/phillies is she also casting aside any previous team loyalties?
I would look for other options even if she is. she shouldn't have to and you shouldn't have to give up previous loyalties, it's one thing not to watch the flyers anymore but to kick them to the curb for another team doesn't sound right.

Watch, you make the deal and the flyers get good and win the cup the next season. Maybe you could have a caveat attached to the agreement that says the agreement is only valid if the flyers aren't in contention for anything and the devils are. If they are both in contention then you each have your own loyalties.

[SCREAM]

That's the thing that gets me. No loyalties whatsoever, so I get nothing in this compromise. I mean, I turned on the preseason game the other night and she had no idea whatsoever that I was watching because the Eagles were playing. She isn't much of a sports fan ... but her family's into hockey, and she could name at least 5 Devils, so I have to accept that.

No deal though, on my part. I'm not giving up on my Flyers.

[dawkins20]

my wife and I dated for 5 years (college sweethearts). We've since been maried for 10 years. Before the children were born there were no issues at all with my Eagle love. If the Eagles were on, she'd watch it with me. In fact any football game and she would watch. The only thing is, she never got into it too much and never really cared who won. She knew my mood would change between overly happy or slightly depressed based on a win or loss...but for the most part she couldn't care less.

We now have 2 girls. For the first 8 years there have been some issues. Mainly because she'd be watching the girls while I watched the games. If any of you have 2 or more girls, you know that can be a little tough.

I've tried to get my girls to watch the games with me. They both have McNabb jerseys and will sometimes start watching a game. Before too long they want me to turn the channel or go watch the game on a smaller TV in the bedroom or basement.

Have I mentioned my wife's father and brother are huge Giants fans? That has been interesting. They even got my oldest one to tease me and root for the Eagles. My brother in law even got her a Tikki shirt. (I want to burn it). My youngest is the best...she still is with me and roots for the Eagles. She loves McNabb and Dawkins.

In the end...my family has been real good about my football addiction. I cannot complain.

But like marriage...kids do throw in a curveball in almost everything you do. They are so worth it...but certainly take both parents time and help

[2nd and Arch]

My girlfriend grew up in a Bills/Sabres fanatic household in Western NY but never took much interest in the game and had the usual contempt for jocks and insane sports fans.

We've been together 7 years, and she's moved from never having a problem with me watching the games to actually going with me to pubs when we can't get the Eagles locally, and watching some of the games at home with me provided I make lots of tasty snacks from scratch. It's a much better bargain/bribe than having to pay for vacations or shopping trips.

Though she'd never root for the Eagles against the Bills, she has slowly upped her knowledge of the game and probably knows my team better than hers simply because she sees more Eagles games in a given year. She does roll her eyes when I take my once-every-five-years interest in the Sixers or Phillies bandwagons due to a non-disappointing season.

[stocknowledge]

When I was married, I would get in a lot of trouble with my spouse because of my sports-watching (Which probably explains why we got divorced!). One year, I watched EVERY football game that it was possible to watch. I OD'ed on football.

My present girlfriend has the same attitude towards sports on TV as my ex-wife - She hates them. But, thanks to TIVO (Best invention since the in-home toilet!) and my reduced enthusiasm for watching other teams, I am better able to control my addiction to football.

[tinopuno]

Although born and raised in the the Philly suburbs, my wife of 40 plus years has never taken more than a passing interest in the Philly teams that I have followed so passionately...and painfully...since childhood. On the other hand, she has never questioned nor attempted to interfere with my "need" to watch or listen to a game, regardless of the season.

When we still lived in Jenkintown, her boss would give us his front row, blue line seats for the Flyers 5 or 6 times a year and while she loved watching hockey in person, never cared to watch on TV. She liked going to Phils games at Connie Mack because we were so close to the playing field. We moved to upstate NY before the Vet was built, and neither of us much enjoyed the few Phils games we've seen there when back in town.

She has always been somewhere between amused and annoyed with how distreesed I became following a tough loss for any of the Philly teams in a BIG GAME. The exceptopns to this would be the Phils collapse in '64, and the Eagles losses in the 3 consecutive NFC Championship games. On these occasions she genuinely sympathized with my misery.

My wife, my daugher, and now her husband (a New Yorker) understand and accept the HOUSE RULE that interuptions, when I'm watching the Birds, are to be kept to an ABSOLUTE minimum.

All in all, I've got no complaints.

[FRESH]

Married. My wife is a converted Skins fan. Used to watch the Eagles/Skins games together and squabbled like cats and dogs....but she came around. Now she's a bonafide Iggle Phan.

[BillyBird]

I was going to start a thread like this a while ago...

This will be my second football season with my current girlfriend. Last year I probably followed game days less passionately than ever. Lots of us probably did...I mean 4 straight NFC Championship games, a SuperBowl, then 6-10...by Thanksgiving I was doing draft research. So, she really hasn't seen a football season yet.

So, having given up on the Eagles by Thanksgiving, I had been waiting what? 8 1/2 months until training camp. So, on the FIRST DAY of contact at Lehigh my girlfriend picks a fight about my not giving her enough attention...she actually said, "please don't let me lose you yet." That night we stayed up till at least 2 am talking about it...I told her about how I used to go to training camp with my dad when I was a kid, how I went to countless games with him, about how I used to go to every practice when they trained at West Chester University and I was going to college there. I told her that I did not appreciate her making me feel like my passion was not well placed. Like it was not worth my time, or whatever....She did not understand.

The next night I'm still seething over it all, and at bedtime she says that she's figured out how to deal with the whole "football thing"...she says she needs a team to follow and so she's decided that she's gonna be a Cowboys fan. She thought that was funny. I disagreed...she still thinks it's funny...I still don't.

I have a feeling this is going to grow into a problem...I don't think she gets that its something that could make me more upset than just about anything she could do...she already made the mistake during a Phillies game of saying "it's just a game"...God help her if she says that during or just after an Eagles loss - I'm not sure she knows or can even concieve how big a mistake that would be...

I just don't know....when I told her that the Eagles play on Christmas and that I AM watching that game, I could see her internalizing, but I don't think she really accepted it...I do love her, but I have been an Eagles freak longer than I have known anyone I know (save my family)...The Phillies and Eagles are my family - maybe moreso than some of my actual family members....argh!

[PhillyJack]

Also bring this topic up because my girlfriend has proposed:

She'll give in to watching and rooting for the Eagles/Sixers/Phillies/etc. IF I'll give in to watching the Devils and give up rooting for the Flyers.

Considering that the Flyers are 4th in my book in town, it's not that bad of a deal, but I turned it down for now.

That's just the start... The Phillies will be next... Then the Sixers.... And all of a sudden, you'll wake up one day with the kid dressed up in a mini Giants uniform.

Cripes, I've even got my wife to watch Nascar!!! The trade offs? I'll take her to shows she wants to see like Cirque du Soleil, go to her parents for dinner more often than I'd prefer, suffer through a few chick flicks here and there... but these are small tradeoffs! My loyalties to my teams stay where they are.

We're redoing our basement. She attempted to bargain for half of it to decorate to her liking. No way I told her. She has the two floors above it to do whatever she likes. I've collected quite alot of Eagles memorabilia including a neon clock, rug, dart board set, etc... This game/tv room is mine, all mine I say!

Remember, this is just your girlfriend bargaining with you, you can't imagine what kind of changes she has in store for you when you're legally hers.

Men marry women hoping they won't change, women marry men hoping they can change them.