I am not “really” a football girl. I can watch and understand what’s happening. If I am watching with other hard-core football fans, I won’t annoy them with questions while they try to enjoy the game.

Basically, I have knowledge of the game but not nearly to the extent I do baseball or even hockey. And because of this, if friends want me to come watch the game with them, I can and have a great time while doing so.

This season however, I feel like something odd has happened. I am *almost* back to being an actual football fan. This is news to even me. I think the whole lockout was the culprit to bringing me back as well as some of my wonderful friends and colleagues at Aerys Sports

How did it all begin? With the constant talk of the lockout and the potential misery fans would go through if there were no football.
Don’t get me wrong, if there were a lockout it would be an opportunity for people to get more into my other favorite sport, but the way some people were acting was like they were seeing a close relative slowly die. We all know that is not a good thing. To think it was happening over a sport is really depressing.

In any event, I was reading some of my colleagues work about their favorite team and finding that football isn’t all that bad. Some even reminded me of my time hanging out at a particular team bar on Sundays to watch games. That turned out to be a great experience as well as a “fandom” changer for me.

Several years ago one of my friends would “drag” me to this bar to watch his favorite team. At the time I really could care less about that team or football in general. To me, it was just something to do on Sundays since baseball was over. Anyone could tell me to cheer for whatever team and I’d happily do it. Just because it was fun and I had no interest in actually rooting for any particular team. It just so happened that for a due to the atmosphere at this particular bar and with this particular team, I started to actually care what was happening with this fan.

Little did I know that hanging out in this bar, learning all the cheers and just having fun would turn me into a Packers fan. Yep, I love the boys in green & yellow from Wisconsin. Blasphemous I know since I am from Illinois and when I was a child supported and loved the ’85 Bears. But now, I am a Packers fan. And I make no apologies for being a cheese head now.

Now that I am slowly becoming a football fan again, being a Packers fan is even more enjoyable. I freely admit that getting a rise out of Bears fans is hilarious. And I love that I could turn the rally cry of “Bear down” into an association of a Jay Cutler sack if I say it with some fans. Mostly it is fun to watch a team do things well most of the time and even if the defense sucks a little, you can shrug it off because the offense took care of things.

In any event, I will continue to watch football this season and cheer on the Packers. Now I have to get myself a Packers shirt (who have I become that I actually want a piece of NFL attire in my wardrobe) and continue taunting my friends who like the Bears. Oh and painting my nails green and yellow.

GO PACK GO!