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Saturday, August 16, 2008
I’ll soon be a UGA football widow again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ask me what I’m doing on Saturdays over the next three months and I’ll consult my handy-dandy magnetic Georgia football calendar. It conveniently hangs on my refrigerator door and lists when the Bulldogs will be at home and when my husband won’t be.
The No. 1 ranked Dogs’ season runs from Aug. 30 to Nov. 29. That means the next time my husband will be available to hang out with his family on a Saturday will be when Santa Claus is at the mall.
As Michael counts down the days until kickoff, I’m counting down the weekends that I have left to get him to reorganize the laundry room, clean out the basement, clean the carpets and repaint the bathrooms.
Since Mark Richt arrived in Athens, my family events on fall Saturdays have been limited to bye weeks and occasional morning outings when the Dawgs play a night game on the road — although we have to be home in time for Michael to watch kickoff.
How I long for the days of mediocrity under coaches Donnan and Goff, when my husband would stop caring about football in early October. I remember trips to the mountains in November, a late September trip the beach and a quick weekend getaway to New York.
This season, with Dawgmania at its peak, I’ll be lucky if I can get him to run to the hardware store on a Saturday morning before he heads to Athens to get his tailgate on.
My kids won’t know the simple pleasures of apple picking in Ellijay or the spectacle of the Georgia National Fair in Perry. It’s too difficult for me to take the baby and the other two on trips like that, and we can’t fit church and a long drive in on a Sunday.
I’ve been criticized a lot whenever I have complained of being a football widow. Let me rebut the two most common criticisms.
“It’s only six Saturdays a year.” Actually, it’s a lot more. Add in Georgia-Florida, which is a three-day trip. Plus, there’s often at least one road trip to Nashville, Knoxville or Columbia, and perhaps an SEC championship game. Occasionally I’ve dragged him out when Georgia is on the road, and he spends the whole time looking for a TV, radio or checking the score on his Treo.
“Why don’t you go?” The answer is simple — because I have three children who don’t enjoy sitting on 14-inches of metal bench for four hours in direct sunlight with thousands of drunk, loud fans. Also, five season tickets would be quite a hit to the budget. Once a year, we do all go to one game together. And Michael occasionally takes a big kid to Athens if his buddy can’t go.
I know I’m not the only one experiencing this type of scheduling phenomenon. There are thousands of families around the state dictating their lives around high school, college, NFL and youth football schedules.
A few years ago, a Steelers fanatic we know kept trying to go to games in Pittsburgh while his wife was on bedrest to prevent early labor. A coach’s wife we know spends every Friday night at high school football games and all day Saturday at the youth fields watching her kids play and cheer.
I’ve decided to accept that our Fall will be scheduled around the Bulldogs (at least until they start losing).
I am planning activities for the kids and me so we don’t just sit around bored and angry about being left behind. Here’s a sample of our plans for an exciting fall without Michael:
We’re going to do some fancy cooking, making petit fours with hand-formed marzipan roses with my niece, sister-in-law and parents. Maybe we’ll leave the kitchen messy for Michael to clean up after the game.
My mom and I may take on those bathrooms while Michael is in Athens — if my dad will watch with the kids.
In an ironic insult, we plan to attend several Georgia Tech games with my parents. It’s easier to get there, tickets are cheaper, and it’s a lot more low-key. We can even stretch out among the empty seats. And, my dad is much nicer when Tech loses than my husband is when the Dawgs lose.
I have scheduled my first annual Mom-cation for the bye week, while my husband keeps the kids.
I’m sure I will continue to moan and complain about football, but at least we won’t be sitting around pining for him while he’s with his second family, all 92,000 of them.
Do you schedule your family’s activities around sporting events? What does the family do when dad or mom is away with their second “family”?
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