Woo Pig Sooie!

I'm not a fan of football - never have been. I was raised in a town where the high school didn't have a football team so basketball was the major sport. I understand basketball, I was a cheerleader for basketball, I GET basketball. Now football is an entirely different animal. When I changed high schools I suddenly found myself in major football territory, as a matter of fact I would have been shocked if our men's basketball team could have beaten most of the women's teams in town. I spent four years in the marching band on the sidelines and in the half time shows at football games, but I never understood or cared what was going on. I cheered when others cheered, exclaimed in disgust when others did and basically just chatted with my girlfriends the whole time.

In college at Illinois State, football was not a big thing. I think I went to one or two games as part of a sorority/fraternity mixer but honestly I was in it for the tailgating and beer. In nursing school at Mizzou, I often had clinicals on the weekends as part of my program or I was working so again - no football, no care.

Now I find myself in the midst of football fanatics and apparently I'm marrying not only BJ, but his season tickets to the University of Arkansas Razorback games..... yippee for me ... NOT! Now before you give me grief, let me make it clear that I did NOT misrepresent myself in regards to sports. I am certain that we covered sports in our first lunch date which lasted 6 hours and my thoughts on football were not sugar coated. The only sport I enjoy watching is college basketball, if I'm plied with liquor I can watch hockey or go to a baseball game (I'd rather put my eyes out, however, than watch it on TV), when the Olympics come around I can sit and watch various sports for hours, but that's it. I have had many opportunities in my life to care about football - for example, my stepdad coaches my former high school team, my stepbrother played college ball for four years, I've been to more Super Bowl parties than I can count
and still I don't like football.

All of that clearly has to change now because I'm in love yada yada yada and marrying into a family that not only watches their own personal teams, but has to watch ESPN and see highlights of every other important game going on in the country - UGH! Since I do want my marriage to work, and I was told that nothing gets a guy hotter than seeing his main squeeze dressed up in his team's colors and loudly disputing a crappy call, I boldly went to my first Razorback game this weekend.
Let me be clear that I still don't really understand football, though I was making a concerted effort to make some sense of the madness on the field. I'm a pretty sharp gal so once I actually *sigh* started to pay attention and care, the downs, yards, penalties and strategy were starting to make some sense.

For those who don't know Razorback football, let me just say that these people are nuts! Grown women and men were passionately cheering for this team, booing the opponents, exclaiming loudly at the "unfair" penalty calls. I seriously would have feared for my life if at a quiet point in the game I decided to shout, "I think the Razorbacks suck ass!"

Another distinctly Arkansas tradition is to call the hogs. This is done prior to the team taking the field and as a type of cheer at all of the kick offs and other special moments. It had been demonstrated to me half- heatedly by BJ once and very enthusiastically by my future brother-in-law prior to the game (who interestingly enough is an Auburn fan). After seeing what it means to call the hogs, I told BJ outright that I was NOT going to do that, but I did compromise and wear a ball cap with the "hog call" on it.

So picture this, tens of thousands of men, women and children at the beginning of the game .... standing up wiggling their hands in the air "spirit finger" style yelling "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO PIG SOOIE!" Seriously the first time I saw it, I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee. This video clip gives you an idea ... seriously the ENTIRE stadium was participating!

In the end, the football game was not a horribly painful experience, by the end of it I felt like i had some vague understanding of what was going on. I wouldn't mind going two or three times a season but I don't know if and when I would ever feel so moved as to want to call the hogs.

One other fun part of the weekend was getting to meet BJ's sister and her husband for the first time. She's a dyed in the wool Mizzou and Georgia fan while he can be found wandering around aimlessly shouting "War Eagle!" (click here for reference) They flew in for the game to sit in the Auburn section and we all had a rousing weekend of football together - and thankfully there was plenty of beer to dull the pain for Jenn!!