I have to admit that I love football. My romance with the sport began on October 10, 1983. It was a game between the Steelers and Bengals and Kenny Anderson was the quarterback. During the game Steelers Keith Gary facemasked Kenny in the most blatant intentional foul I've ever seen. It turned Kenny's head 180 degrees and left a row of bloody scratches down his cheek. While it kept Kenny out of three games afterwards, during that play he showed incredible strength and I was hooked.

Of course, the fact that I lived in Chicago was enough to fuel the fire of love for football as the Chicago Bears started their roar during '85 and provided one of the most entertaining seasons on record, not just because of the style of play, but for the incredibly unique set of players; from Samuri Mike to Refrigerator Perry the entire Monsters of the Midway. They were a joy to watch. I'm now living in North Carolina but on Sunday afternoons (or Monday nights), it's still "Go Bears" for me.

Any football fan has stories like mine. Most can remember where they were when the game really hooked them and have that ONE team that is forever theirs, even if they don't live in the area anymore. Admittedly, I fall into the category of "football fan who just watches football." That means that I'm parked on the couch for the game on Sunday afternoon and evening and Monday night, but you won't find me reading Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback or listening to Jim Rome dissect each and every play on the radio. My husband takes care of the reading part and I have plenty of friends who listen to Rome on the radio for me. They are in the "football fan who follows football in EVERY way" club. 

Ok, as a side note, I do admit to being a big fan of "Inside the NFL" when it was on HBO. But even there, it was mostly for the fantastic footage of the previous week's games (along with Harry Kalas' awesome deep-voiced narration) and Len Dawson, Nick Buoniconti, Jerry Glanville and Cris Collinsworth as hosts (all of whom had at one time been involved with football either as a player or coach). And, truth be known, I think Peter King has some of the best insights into the game and players that I've heard.

But, I never really cared for reading article after article and listening to others recap the games and give their predictions for the upcoming weekend. Especially when those writing and talking had never played or coached and so basically had the same information I did. They WATCHED the game. If that's all it takes, heck, I could be Jim Rome. Do you know that Jim Rome and Peter King never played football? They both graduated college with journalism/communications degrees. In high school that's the kind of extra curricular activity that's right up there with chess club.

The bottom line isn't to make less of Mr. Rome and what he does, but to acknowledge the fact that I could be him. And I've seen people on HobCommunity's football forum who could be too. It's obvious that we have a group of very opinionated, very insightful football fans in that Hobby Group. I've seen predictions that were made after much research and thought. I've seen recaps of previous games and descriptions of teams and players that were right on. In fact, I've seen a LOT of Jim Romes.

That's one of the greatest things about discussion forums and blogs, whether here or elsewhere. It gives us all a chance to be Jim Rome. We may not make his money, but when it comes down to it, we know as much as he does and we have the freedom to show it.