No...I am not ready for some.

No...I am not ready for some.  I have always been ever since I started dating Ching.  I studied it, was enthused and excited.  Now, not so much.  For some reason, this season, regardless if it is college or NFL, I am just not ready for some football.

Ching lives for the game.  At a very young age, he gravitated toward it.  He likes the strategy of the X's and O's.  As a child, he was a frequent guest of his Aunt Angela and Uncle Ming-Luh.  Now, residents of Columbus Ohio, but then, Miami, Florida and there wasn't a team better than the Miami Hurricanes.  Ching told me that he liked the inner thug, bad ass like play.  (As he described this to me when we first met, he pointed to himself like he was a thug too.  That's right..Mr Ching Wang..inner thug.  I think this was the only justification of his pants hanging mid-ass and showing his boxers.)

Miami was and still is his team...regardless of his attendance of Boston College, undergrad, while some of his best friends playing against Miami.  How ironic is that?  He goes to Boston College and doesn't know a soul.  He ends up being friends with players who are still his best friends to this day.  But regardless of friendship, he always cheered for Miami.  I am glad to say that they are still his friends...some of his best.

We had our first fight during the Boston College/Miami game of 1999.  This was an amazing Miami team.  I learned more about football watching my favorite guy, Santana Moss. (And I would like to think that my quick knowledge was my way of wooing Ching.)  So it was quite a surprise that at the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 28-0, BC.  Ching is not a gracious loser...he throws the f-bomb, yells, and does that "old man whatever gesture of dismissal".  This was a very hard game for me because he wouldn't talk to me and then this mo-fo gets up and leaves.  My assumption was that he was leaving the game so I follow.  I get caught in a crowd and lose him but decide to meet him at the gate.  No Ching Wang...I decide perhaps he is outside the stadium, no Ching Wang.  I was so disappointed, even after six weeks of knowing him, I thought he was a really good guy.  I stomp 1.5 miles to his car.  It's locked and I can't get my bag.  (I was planning on spending the night.)  I leave him a very sassy voicemail telling him where I am and he better freakin' get there.  About 20 minutes later, I see this little man running toward me from a distance.  It's Ching...  He gets to me..he is out of breath, sweaty, still in his Miami sweatshirt. (And I think it's 80 degrees.)
CCW:  Jude, where did you go?  I didn't leave you.  I went to the bathroom.
JAC:  But he didn't tell me where he you were going!
CCW:  True, he said. (With that finger...the index finger of reason.)  But guess what?  Miami came back and won the game! Jude it was so good!
JAC:  Wait a minute, you knew I was gone but stayed to watch the game?
CCW:  Jude it was really good, they came back to win!
JAC:  Didn't you wonder where I was?
CCW: I asked people around me, but they didn't know where you went.  Jude..they won the game!
JAC:  (Christ..that smile!)

We joke about how he stayed.  We still joke about how he stayed.  He also jokes that I still ended up spending the night.

I love his exuberance of the game.  He does get pissy when his teams lose.  (He has other teams-MN Vikings, BC and the Hurricanes...right now they are all in that building, sucky stage.  Some Saturdays are kind of tough.  I just ask that he closes the door.)  But he has softened a bit.  Rather than focusing just on the game, he will take Laurel to fan fests at BC before the game.  She will get her face painted and eat ice cream (first quarter) and popcorn (second)...she is good for about a half of a game.  Soon Rachel will get good for a half of a game too.

I am not sure where my interest has gone for the game.  Maybe I am weary of the loses.  It doesn't matter how many W's you have during the season, it's that last W that is the killer.  But recently I have come to the realization that I am just happy the Miami won that game back in 1999.  That is the only win that I should appreciate.  I don't want to think about what would have happened if they hadn't won, 31-28.