FOOTBALL

Today begins a long awaited day for many people. Today is the first Saturday of college football season. Even the most casual of football fans look forward to this day and will make this an all day event. Hor d'oeuvres finger foods, and grills will be fired up keeping the football watchers well fed. Refrigerators are full of pop, beer and various of beverages to stay hydrated during the many hours of gridiron battles. Then there are those families that struggle over which game to watch so they have a different game on each TV in the house with the one exception (these kids have to have something to watch in order to not get in trouble).

Fans go crazy when this season hits. They paint their faces, wear a team jersey and exchange their fine china for football shaped dipping bowls for the chips. Never leaving the comfort of home, we root for our favorite teams all the while turning out homes into giant tailgating parties. This is the time of year where families and friends get together to celebrate the ability to keep score as they cheer their team to a surefire win. However, on occasion our team comes up short and cleaning up after such a game makes the task hard to complete.

All this talk of football calls my mind back to my youth. When I was a kid I played in Jr. High school on the community league and we lost every single game. We were the Bears and how we growled at the beginning of each game. We were ready. We were winners. We were champions. During the game that’s how I played each game but to no avail. But these weren't my fondest football game memories. Those are the ones apart from the organized team. The most fun I had was playing in the field down the street in my neighborhood.

It wasn't really a field. Our football field was the backyards of several houses that were aligned perfectly, almost begging for us to play.  These were the best times. My brother and I would meet up with all the neighborhood boys take a couple footballs and head to our field. It didn’t matter to us if it was rainy or snow on the ground, we would play. Many a time I would return home covered in mud, wet and on occasion in need of a band-aid.  We kept score and there was a definite winner and looser but we didn’t care, we got to play.

No protection, no refs, no stripes on the field, just boys having fun playing a game the whole country loves. Now, none of us who played in that field went on to play in college. So no cameras ever caught us make the “play of the game” but we didn't care. We were all winners on that field, because we played for the love of the game. We played and not once was there a dispute on where to spot the ball or if it was touchdown or not. We just played.

This is how I approach my comedy career and how I suggest you approach yours. It’s for the love of the game. I’m just going to play.