10:53 PM ET  12.16 | My husband, Ryan, is an avid football fan and adores the Carolina Panthers. Our weekends together are precious to me and I used to resent Sundays for taking him away from me. I used to despise the sport. I'd only watch the Super bowl and ONLY for the commercials. Instead of complaining or ignoring the problem, I decided to face it head on. I asked for help.

Ryan is a software engineer-a programmer. He told me that he was going to send me through a 16 week training program and by the end promised I'd understand football enough to enjoy it with him. To his credit, this happened the year the Carolina Panthers went to the Super bowl, so it was pretty easy to get into the games of a winning team.

He started by answering my questions and by using our DVR to rewind and re watch scenes so I could understand it better. Over time, I started being able to actually differentiate between teams (Initially, I chose who I liked based on jersey color.) I checked out all the players online and found the cute ones to admire because I found it a lot easier to remember the names of the hotties.
Over the course of that year I finally got what football was about. It's an intricate team sport. The feeling of winning the games and the agony of defeat ran through us all. When the Panthers won the game that launched them into the Super bowl, we stepped outside and started yelling and jumping in the streets. It was surreal. We weren't the only ones-it seemed all of Charlotte was screaming with us and I felt a bond with faces I couldn't see.

The best advice I can give if your husband isn't able to properly communicate the game to you or if you'd like to learn on your own is to see what other gals are interested in join a fantasy league. The time is now. You can join through ESPN or Yahoo Fantasy Football

Create your league and have fun team names. You can opt for an auto draft and go with the default settings provided for the draft if you choose. This way, even if you don't like or understand what you're seeing, you'll have a set team of guys to watch and root for on game day. You can compete and learn with your friends and eventually will know, understand and even possibly love the sport that claims our Sundays from August to January.

 

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