With the Super Bowl just days away, I felt compelled to tell you all why I really started getting into football and why I particularly jumped at the chance to team up with NFL Fan Shop to bring you all the latest and greatest in football fashion this past season. For me, the teams I have repped have changed over the years, so updating my football wardrobe has been a bit of a necessity. Here’s why…
It’s funny how you mold and change when you start to date someone new. Sure, i’ve probably been the judgey single friend in the corner snickering that my bff and her new boyfriend suddenly are wearing matching leather jackets…when she happened to be a vegan four months ago. But I am perfect and I don’t change. Just kidding. I change a lot. With one of my exes, I didn’t change my style, my political views, my workout or eatings habits, I changed my passion for football.
I started to get really into football when I fell head over heels for the star running back my freshman year of college at Virginia Tech. When I say I fell head over heels, I mean like I was doing everything in my power to make this guy fall in love with me. For the first year, I can’t say my attempts worked. After months of flirtatious texts, movie dates and spewing off history facts about U.S. presidents (this is my idea of impressing potential suitors) all of my hard work amounted to nothing when he was drafted early to the NFL and I was left to wallow in the loss of my dreamy future conquest…or so I thought.
It wasn’t until his rookie season that things started to get serious. Let me tell you, starting to date someone during their rookie season is not easy. I was 20 years old and flying across the country almost every other weekend to be with him at his new stomping grounds in Arizona and getting a taste of what it would be like to be a ‘WAG’ (lol?). I have always loved football because it reminds of my childhood but when we started dating, I really got into it. When I have a goal and set my mind to something – game over. I would stay up reading player’s stats, watching 30 for 30’s so I could spout football facts and researching running back up-and-comers so I knew who to look out for in the case they were to steal my man’s shine (I get a little territorial – I’d be a great left tackle). I could keep up in the convos with my BF and could “wow” my guy friends from home.
Fast forward a few years through the bad breakup (i’ll spare you the details), two other boyfriends and some occasional rekindling makeouts later – one thing has remained, my love for football. With the superbowl right around the corner I felt compelled to tell you all how dating my ex has shaped my love for the sport and the NFL as whole. Everytime I turn on a game I think of him and the experiences we had together during that exciting/scary/surreal time of his first few years in the NFL. So as I sit back this weekend to watch the Super Bowl with a beer, a new love life and a different team on my shirt, I owe it all to my college boyfriend for instilling a passion for the game that will stay with me forever.
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