In light of football season’s arrival, I have a very important announcement to make for men everywhere. And, ladies, please don’t stop reading now! I promise that this post pertains to you as well.
Here is the announcement: Guys, maybe we should put down the remote.
And no, I don’t mean turn the TV to ESPN and then set the remote down for the rest of the day. I mean maybe we should turn the TV off and then put down the remote.
“But Andy,” you might be saying, “you watch football all the time, and you even work with football teams! Surely you’re not saying there’s something wrong with America’s most popular sport!”
No, I am not saying there is anything wrong with football. And yes, I do enjoy sitting down to watch a game on the weekends.
But something struck a chord with me last week after I posted an image on Facebook that celebrated the start of this year’s football season. Several wives commented on the post expressing their sadness that this point in the year marked the time when they would become “football widows,” women who will barely see their husbands on Saturday, Sunday, Monday night, and the occasional Thursday night of every week until football is over.
So guys, we have to ask ourselves, what are our priorities?
Hey, I love watching football. I mean it. I can be in a hotel on a Friday night and turn on the local high school game and be absolutely enthralled.
However, a few years ago, I found myself putting a little too much time into watching football. So much so that I finally had to have a mental meeting with myself and honestly ask, “What’s more important to me? Seeing what happens in a game, or spending time actually engaging in activity with my wife and boys?”
I understand that many families, including mine, are perfectly capable of spending an afternoon together watching their favorite team take the field. That can be a great way to spend family time. In fact, football is full of teachable moments and lessons you can point out to your children. Football, like many other recreational activities, can be a wonderful family tradition.
But guys, occasionally—maybe more than occasionally—shouldn’t we put down the remote and continue the process of becoming the best husbands and fathers we can be?
This post may appear to be about football—and in many ways it is—but it’s really about priorities. The list of activities that you and I sometimes place before our families is long and varied. Some of us watch too much football. Some of us hunt too much. Some of us spend too much time working on projects around the house.
No matter the activity, where does it fall on the list of important things in our lives? And here’s the big question I never liked answering…(so sorry to spring this one on you…) Who is likely to miss me more if I am with the other guys…my football team? Or my boys?
What do YOU think??
