'I'll be left out of the conversation'

Happy college football eve. I know I know I know, games started last night, but lets face it, the real season begins tomorrow and I plan on watching three games. I'm very excited and not at all feeling guilty that I'm planning on doing nothing.

College football (and if you're from the north NFL too) sweeps across the fall and dominates life. It becomes a part of how we plan our schedule, where we travel to, and the things we talk about. A better way to say that is we talk about football all the time while we are traveling to see the teams that we love oh so much.

I was in the car today with two friends from China. They just arrived here in July, so have much to learn about America and our culture. We got to talking about what they had already learned, and Max said "Football!" He went on to tell me that it was so important for him to know and understand football. I mean, to be honest, it seemed logical to me, but thats not normally the response you get from a Chinese student who has never seen football. Eagerness would not be how I describe their want to learn!

Yet Max got it. He said "If I don't learn and understand football, I think I will be left out of the conversation" As we processed through that together, we talked about how much football is talked about throughout the fall. For an international student who doesn't understand the sport, that can be intimidating and isolating as they try to break into our culture. I'm excited Max is going to learn. I'm slightly saddened that 'all we talk about' is football.

I too am guilty! Football is a great thing--its just not everything. So on college football eve, I've had things put into perspective a bit.

Doesn't change tomorrow, I'll still be watching my teams.

Go Buckeyes.
Go Dawgs.
RTR, I guess.