Introductory Thoughts

As a former English major, I appreciate properly-used introductions. Preliminary writings that have little or nothing to do with helping the reader understand what they are fixing to read are annoying. However, an introduction that gives some taste, some glimmering hint of understanding what is to come? Now those are worth reading. To that end, I'm going to give the briefest of introductions - basically explaining who I am, what this is, and why on earth I am qualified to write a sportsblog. Particularly one titled "Football & Etc. Girl-style".

When asked to point out a "football fan," most people would not pick me. But I am. A football fan, I mean. Intensely. Normally, when people stumble across that nugget of truth, their jaw drops and it's a full 2 minutes and 19 seconds before they can sputter "I did not see that one coming". (It takes longer for speech to return if they actually witness the football fanaticism rather than just having it come up in conversation). Ten years ago, I wouldn't have considered myself a football girl either - I sort of cheered for the Panthers or whatever team I randomly selected during SuperBowl season, but I definitely didn't watch the *game* or know who anybody was player/coach-wise. That all changed senior year of high school.

My dad had just started teaching at the local high school (gotta love small towns in the South!), and had a lot of football players in his classes. So the family went en masse to support Dad's students. It didn't take long for me to realize that I had two choices: figure out what the heck is going on, or be incredibly bored every Friday night. I opted to learn ... and in learning, I fell in love. Seriously. Football is simply *amazing,* and I don't know how I made it so long without discovering this fact! Once I figured out what was going on, the fascination spread from the high school field to professional and college, and I've never looked back.

Over the past year or so, I've started reading sportsblogs and paying more attention to news articles and etc. pertaining to football in general and "my teams" in particular. I want to get even better acquainted with the minute details of the game - and fully admit there are areas where I'm not nearly as 'educated' as I'd prefer. Thus the ongoing education and self-imposed reading regimen. The commentary I've been reading has been fairly in-line with the conclusions and such that I make (made?) on my own ... The "trivia" and stuff, I simply love. I'm all about stats and records and random bits of knowledge that most people would never dream about knowing. And so ... Since I learn best by writing, and am wanting to get into writing again in general, I decided to create a sportsblog as an exercise in focused writing. (Not to mention: it's just plain FUN. And I think my friends are slightly over-footballed by this point).

And that, is the brief background of Football & Etc. Girl-style.