GO SPORTS, YEAH FOOTBALL

This week, I watched a Blues football game at Varsity Centre. Despite having grown up in the American South, where I attended a fair share of Super Bowl parties and football games with my marching band, I know next to nothing about the game. In fact, here is everything I do know: touchdowns. The Blind Side. Getting violently tackled. Yard lines. Screaming. I played powderpuff football twice in high school, and both times I ended up sitting out and cheering for my team instead of playing. Unsurprisingly, I was not that excited about going to see a football game this week. Some friends from my club were going, though, and I needed something to write about. After all, writing for this blog is all about trying new things and having unexpected fun! Right? Right?? So off we went to Varsity Centre. I settled in for what I expected to be an incredible night of cheering, excitement, and school spirit. I don’t know what to tell you. I wish I could offer some revelation I had about sports or friendship or teamwork or trying things even if you don’t think you’ll like them… but in the end, I still don’t care much for football. I spent most of the night watching the cheerleaders (they’re so talented and sparkly!) and chatting with my friends about how our classes were going. The score didn’t budge much for U of T, and McMaster won the game forty-three to six. I did enjoy seeing the mascots of various colleges coming together to dance during halftime, since I hadn’t even realized that they existed. I also had fun dancing along to various blasts of songs I knew. In the end, I did learn a few useful things about football (truly, there is hope for us all):

• A game consists of four quarters. The goal is for the offense of one team to score a touchdown by taking the ball into the “end zone” – past the other team’s goal line. Yeah, those yard lines on the field actually do serve a purpose. (I know, right?)
• It actually takes a lot of strategy and forethought to move the ball down the field. I thought it was just some willy-nilly “grab-the-ball-and-run” kind of thing.
• A touchdown is worth six points, but the scoring team can earn another point by kicking the ball through the uprights (those sticky-up yellow things!).

So football isn’t the sport for me. Maybe it’s the sport for you! The next Varsity Blues home football game is on October 21 against Queen’s University. Check out the schedule here!