Marital Conflict

Now I understand that people may laugh at this "issue", but I assure you it is quite serious.  Chris is a football addict.  And I must frequently ask God to "give me the serenity."  This addiction is not a matter of Saturdays in the fall, but rather a 24/7, 365 all-consuming focus.  If there has been a tidbit of information published online, or spoken on the radio, Chris is aware of it.  Scouting reports?  Disciplinary violations?  Scheduling debates?  All on his radar.  Now.  I am not opposed to having a passion.  And as obsessed Chris is with football, his best friend is equally obsessed with beer-brewing, so it makes for a heck of a tailgate.

The problem?  Our diverging opinions.

I'd say the most frequent banter that exists in our house is OSU/Penn State, but seeing as we both went to TWO schools, sometimes Notre Dame and Villanova (with basketball) get thrown into the cage match, too.  ND would probably be a bigger concern if they'd been competitive of late.  We can hope that Coach Kelly can start to turn things around this year.  Neither of us were fans of Charlie the Tuna.  At all.  But...Brian Kelly began his career at the University that my Aunt Polly and Uncle John teach at, so we can hope.  In fact, Polly tells a story that he tried to call her to excuse a player from something, and she is so aware of football, that she didn't have a clue who he was.  She also has stated that as long as ND wants their former football coach, she'd be willing to come help with academics, too. 

With all the talk of Big 10 expansion, we are now looking at the possibility of THREE of our schools being in the same division.  Which I would be all in favor of with football, but for my sanity?  Could be trouble.  My opinion (the ever so informed one that it is), is that Notre Dame should quit being so egotistical and realize that the days of having its own contract with NBC may be past.  They have not been a dominant enough program in recent years.  Staying independent does not make sense for long term financial success.  Besides the financial concerns, the schools within the Big 10 are very respected academic institutions, are competitive athletically, have their own network, and have the ability to recruit across the country.  Many of the schools are already on ND's schedule, as well, so few contracts would need to be broken.

Back to the raging battle.  Chris even managed to ensure that I had blue and white nails when he proposed:

Alright, this hasn't proven to be much of a post about conflict.  We pretty much agree that this is a good way to spend our time.  However, now that we are PENN STATE season ticket holders...I must restate where my allegiance lies: