Football Football Football

Last weekend, as many of you know, was the start of the NFL season and I, for one, couldn't be happier! Football is one of my favorite things. I grew up going with my dad to NMSU football games, where he tirelessly explained the rules to me and held dozens of conversations like these with a tiny, 7 year old Jenna (I'll let you guess who is who in these conversations):

"Why don't they go 2.5 yards each down?"
"They want to get 10 yards as soon as possible."
"But then they don't have to go 10 yards each time. They can just go 2.5."
"They want to get 10 yards as soon as possible."
"Why did they just go one yard?"
"They tried to go more, but they got stopped."
"Maybe they were trying for 2.5."

***

"Why was there a flag?"
"Pass interference."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that the defender stopped the other guy from catching the ball."
"But... but I thought that was what he was supposed to do."
"Well, he is, but not illegally."
"Then how is he supposed to?"
"He has to block the ball, if he can, and make the catcher nervous."
"So he has to interfere with the pass."
"Yes."
"But not too much, because that's illegal."
"Yes. I guess."

And on and on and on! He was a very patient father. :o)

So this weekend, opening game for the Ravens, I proudly donned my Ray Lewis jersey and let Boyfriend borrow my Ed Reed jersey. Together, we headed out to a local sports bar to watch the Ravens play (gulp) the Pittsburgh Steelers, our rivals and the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year.

But little did I know that my little Ravens had come to play. With sack after sack, interception after interception, Ray Rice run after run, we came away with a whopping 28 point victory (35-7), ending the Steelers' 8 year opening game winning streak and smashing our habit of playing within 4-7 points of the Steelers every game.

It was unbelieveably sweet.

This was also my first attempt at Fantasy Football (which, really, will be another post in itself!) and I did well. Okay, I did better than well. I DOMINATED!

All hail the Raptors (my fantasy football name)! I got 127 points in my league, more than every other person (all men, and all sports fanatics) by more than 10 points. I had Carolina Steve Smith (who blew up with 28 points!) and the Baltimore Ravens defense (with a whopping 24 points with that sweet, sweet win over Pittsburgh!), which gave me a huge advantage. I also had some other great players like Witten (awesome tight end), Cedric Benson, Andre Johnson... it was a great, great weekend.

I'll update more on my Fantasy team (as well as the men that like to run their mouth and who expected little from my little team) soon but Thomas's labrador puppy, Remix, is looking up at me with big, snuggly eyes and I think it's puppy time.

Have a good night!