October 27, 2012: Football, football and more football...

Having three boys guarantees one thing on fall weekends...lots of football. This weekend was clearly one of those; mirroring many weekends from years past. Although I have officially graduated one son from flag football and a college son from participation sports, we still live back-to-back football from Friday through Monday on any given October weekend. New to the mix are young adult sons who are also eager participants in fantasy football with nonstop NFL coverage.

This past weekend has proven to be a solid example of this. On Friday night Ben's high school team, less an injured Ben, won their first round of playoffs. Saturday morning resulted in a game loss, but Grant's junior high team taking 2nd place in their league play. Immediately following this game and on to game #3; Ben, Grant and I bundled up and headed to Lincoln to meet my college son and 85,000 of our closest Husker friends and fellow fans for the Nebraska/Michigan standoff.

The experience of Memorial Stadium is one that always feels new to me each time I walk into the stadium. I carry the heart of a football mom and am in new found awe each time I experience it; regardless of the number of times I have actually walked through the entry gates.

I choke up and brush away tears while singing the National Anthem every time the opening song is played. I get goosebumps as the crowd collectively roars with the airplane flyover and as the team enters the field. Without exception, my heart goes out to the mother of the kicker who misses a field goal; regardless of his team uniform. And nothing warms this mother's heart more than to watch the three boys sitting to my right as they share their beloved Huskers memories together.

And the Lane boys do love their football. I have recently learned that the best conversations with my sixteen year-old occur over Monday night football. I happened upon this by accident. On the night of a big Denver Broncos game, I sat down next to my teenager while wearing my Peyton Manning jersey.

"Mom, can you even name another player on the Broncos?" questioned Ben; a cynic on what he believed to be my bandwagon ways.

"Elvis Dumervil," I quickly answered.

"Too easy. School? Position?" he challenged.

"Ummmmm" was the best answer I could give.  But I wasn't going to apologize for my alliances or my coveted jersey.

"Okay, Mom. Watch the game with me and I'll teach you what you need to know."

So in between his texting and checking other scores for his fantasy team and my messing on my laptop, we enjoyed a little Mom and Ben time talking about the week past, his football season, and a bit about life.  And I did pick up a thing or two about football along the way.

The Broncos play at 7:00 tonight. There will be no Manning jersey or live TV for us as we will be enjoying a Broadway show downtown.  But Ben has already set up live feeds on my IPhone for score updates and has advised me that he will "break it down" for me when we get home. Thanks, Ben. I look forward to it.