A tribute to my dad, my football friend

By cowgirl  |   Monday, September 07, 2009  |  Comments( 4 )

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I am a woman. I am a fan of the National Football League. I have never received a warm welcome from my male counterparts. It is definitely a man’s world. But I’m so lucky. I love the game! I love the league. What an unexpected gift my passion for the NFL was and is to me.

I was a flag girl in high school and college, mainly because I had a huge crush on a trombone player. I watched a lot of football games but had no idea what was happening. I used to watch the Super Bowl. I liked the Cowboys because they were on TV a lot. I remember Jackie Smith’s dropped pass in the end zone in Super Bowl XIII.

Everything changed in January, 1994. The Bill’s were in their 4th straight Super Bowl and the Cowboy’s were going for their 2nd championship in a row. I was torn.. Who should I pull for??…then I saw Troy Aikman’s face. Yep, that changed everything! I was a Cowboy fan from that day forward.

The ’94 season I watched every game with my 2nd dad. (My father was killed when I was 6.) My 2nd dad, who married my widowed mother with 4 kids, is way too important to me to ever be referred to as merely my ‘step’ dad. He was my dad. He taught me the game. We watched the NFL for hours each Sunday. He was so patient. He taught me all the rules and the plays and told me who all the players were and what position they played. I asked so many questions and he never lost patience. It brought us even closer together.

He was a 49er fan and I loved the Cowboys. 1995 was his year. He loved Jerry Rice. San Francisco won the Super Bowl.

In September of 1995 my dad got lung cancer. My mom took care of him during the day. I stayed up with him all night. He wanted to watch Monday Night Football one night. It was the last game we watched together.

He died on January 12, 1996. The Cowboys beat the Packers to go on to the Super Bowl and win.

After the victory over the Packers, I went to the funeral home and walked up to the coffin holding my dad..my hero..my football buddy…I said, ‘The Boys did it, Daddy. They’re going to the Super Bowl…’
I still love the NFL but nothing was more special than those days in the mid-nineties watching football with my dad. I miss my football friend. I miss my dad…..
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