Any Given Sunday: A Lesson For Us Women

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As your self-appointed “funny football female,” I feel it my duty to make an impassioned plea to watch the NFL Playoffs with your husband, male honey, or hang-with pal.  Not that women aren’t watching.  Sunday Night Football is the fourth most watched program among women 18 to 49.  Also, women make up 44% of people who identify themselves as NFL fans.  Men know that women who love sports are passionate and competitive and don’t mind when things get a little rough.  My plea is to the women who think they don’t like football.  Let me make my case:

Any Given Sunday. . . the name of a really great movie about football. The title says it: on any given Sunday a team with a losing record can somehow rise up and beat a team with a winning record.  Case in point: on Sunday, December 18, week 15 of the NFL season, the sorry Kansas City Chiefs rose up and beat the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers.  How does that happen?  One thing we know is teams get extra motivated to be THE team to knock off the unbeaten team. Pride plays a huge part.  Another circumstance that week was that the Chiefs’ head coach was fired, and popular Romeo Crennel was given the job. He infused the team with new energy, motivation and discipline in excellent practices before the big game.  Also, Green Bay could have had a bad day.  Their playoff status and home-field advantage secured, they may not have been as motivated as the Chiefs.  Whatever the reasons, the game made for fascinating watching.  Moreover, the playing out of this theory can give us all hope that any situation can be turned around. Your sales or achievement record on the job can be a winning one no matter what your previous record was.

Besides, you can see some marvelous athletic feats.  Last Sunday, we witnessed what has been called the “greatest scoring leap ever.”  Jerome Simpson of the Bengals leapt over a tall competitor, and did a somersault into the end zone, and “stuck” the landing with both feet!  It was awesome.  You can see it still, ladies, since men love watching awesome plays over and over in slow motion.  So ESPN will be playing it for weeks.

Ladies, I know you are optimists at heart.  You root for the underdog.  You believe in miracles.  So why wouldn’t you just eat this stuff up?  The playoffs start the first Saturday in January.  Playoffs are the time when teams are the most motivated and playing their best.  You will see amazing feats of athleticism and unparalleled competitiveness.  Try it.  Watch with your man, and see how excited he is that you are watching.  Remember, as I write in the book, ask questions only during timeouts or commercials.  And use the motivation on the field to fuel your own.