Are you ready for some football?

I readily admit it...we are a fanatic football family. Big Boss Man, a die hard Redskins fan; our older son, Bean Pole, a Chicago Bears fan; me, an Indianapolis Colts fan, and our other son, Little Linebacker...a completely undeniable fair-weather, all-team fan. Picture this:

It was a cool Sunday in October. Big Boss Man had gone to bed early for once because he wasn't feeling well. My sons and I were sitting in the living room watching the Cowboys play the Pats. For once in his life, Little Linebacker had actually decided on a team and stuck with it for much of the game; I was hoping his fickle football "fantics" were over. Further into the game, however, I was proven wrong...so very wrong.

4th quarter, 3:59 left to play. 1st and 10 at the Dallas 19. Romo tosses a short pass up the middle, and Seau intercepts it at the 25 and runs it to the 20. My son...my Little Linebacker...the completely undeniable fair-weather, all-team fan, bursts into tears! I looked over in astonishment at the sudden emotion explosion he exhibited, and see alligator tears streaming already. Big Boss Man came out of the bedroom, thinking Bean Pole had punched Little Linebacker (or some other kind of brotherly physical assault had taken place).

Forget Brady's 16 incomplete passes before this point. Forget his fumble which Dallas recovered. Forget 3 sacks. Forget that halfway through the 2nd quarter, the score was only 21-17 Pats. Forget also that in the 3rd quarter, the Boys were actually winning 24-21 for a time, and that at the beginning of the 4th, the score was a mere 38-27 Pats...Billy himself said in his press conference following the game, "Look, we've all seen games, I mean [like] the Tampa Bay-Indianapolis game a couple of years ago - 21 points in about four minutes, or whatever it was. So don't tell me about leads in this league. Until the final gun goes off, it's not a win." What it all came down to for my little 6 year old's then pure-Cowboy heart was that interception.

He spent the remainder of his time in the living room bawling like a youngin' with every Cowboy incomplete pass or point scored by the Patriots. I finally realized he was just crying out of exhaustion and couldn't even make the tears come anymore, so I took him to bed. His head hit the pillow and he was out like a light. He made no mention of that game, or the NFL in general until the beginning of this weekend, when he commented, "I can't wait for Sunday and Monday night football!".

He couldn't even tell me which teams were playing which game.

Tonight's game started with a Little Linebacker desire to see the Broncos win. After asking Big Boss Man which team he wanted to win, and Boss Man replying with the Steelers, our flesh and blood flat out changed his mind! "Okay, Steelers!" he said, with a pouty face and even poutier body language. And that only lasted until the 2nd quarter when Roethlisberger was stripped of the ball and Crowder ran it back for a Broncos TD. All hell breaketh loose.

Our children are now in bed, same as last Sunday night. One of these weeks, they may actually get to stay up for a whole game. But only if The Little Linebacker can pick a team and stick with it.