Ooooh ooooh ooooh ooooh... it's about that time!

I am one of the 12 women obsessed with football. I know there's 12 of us because I am in a 12-team all-female fantasy football league on NFL.com. And I know I'm obsessed because that's only one of my three fantasy football leagues. Plus I have a dozen fantasy football magazines by my computer desk.

I don't know when it started. I have always been into sports like baseball, football and college basketball. My dad wasn't into sports. He got into Husker football for one season and took me and my mother to a couple Royals and Chiefs games but that was it. My mother always had some sporting event on the TV and listened to it while knitting or crocheting or something. Didn't matter what it was (except she never developed a taste for televised golf.) It could be NASCAR or the Celtics or the Jayhawks. But this wasn't the beginning of the obsession.

I think the true passion began when I became involved with my husband. Ken followed the Minnesota Vikings. Even more important was the timing though - we started watching the year Daunte Culpepper started playing (and playing well). It was magical watching a new quarterback develop into something special. I didn't think much of Randy Moss - too much trouble, overpaid. But Cris Carter was THE MAN. He would wait there one yard past the first down marker... Daunte under pressure would launch the ball in his direction... Carter was up, reaching with one hand, grabbing the ball with his fingertips, then one hand, then pulling it in and coming down just in bounds. First down Minnesota!!! God it was a beautiful thing. I mourned when Cris retired... and then started playing for the DOLPHINS??!!! WTF!!!! And I was so proud that Gary Andersen, the NFL's all-time leading scorer, was OUR kicker. And he retires, and I mourned again. So later on I'm watching a Titans game and THERE HE IS! And NOT in purple and gold. How could he BETRAY me like that?! (Funny thing is, I wouldn't be hurt if my hubby strayed but I would not have spoken to Gary Anderson ever again if I had the opportunity. He hurt me deeply.)

So right now I am getting my fix on preseason football. This year I am doing my research. This year I am not going to draft until the last preseason game is in the books (all the rosters are set and all the players will hopefully have decided whether pot or football is more important Ricky Williams). And this year... I WILL DOMINATE!

PS another funny from my 14 yo son: We were eating Hawaiian pizza and he had a little warm cream cheese on his finger. The kitten was trying to eat it off his finger and he said (innocently enough) "It's ok to lick but when you start biting, you're done."