tis the (football) season / haters gonna hate

as you can probably tell from your favorite social networking site, football season is back. i'm sure non-football fans everywhere let out a collective, "ugh," when they saw what their news feed and/or timeline would be inundated with today. football, love it or hate it, takes over and becomes impossible to ignore. to the lovers i say, finally! to the haters i say, don't worry, there's only like 20 more weeks to go. it'll be over in no time... and for the ladies, it ends just in time for valentine's day, which i'm sure will be used as a form of immediate payback for many of you.

i'm a huge football fan. but i recognize that this probably puts me in the category of being a fan of something other people can't stand. i imagine many people see my football related posts on facebook and/or twitter and they dislike it in just the same manner i dislike their posts about whatever stupid television show / movie / book / hobby / etc they happen to be into. i kinda use this as a moment of self reflection... i realize that i'm no better than those i judge negatively. hopefully i'll remember that and not judge others so negatively next time i see a post regarding anything i can't understand other people liking.

looks like no one's perfect and we're all guilty of liking something other people find stupid. if that's the case, then maybe we should all stop hating on each other... i'm gonna try and do my part. next time i see a facebook post about something i think is stupid, i'm gonna tell myself that whoever posted it enjoys this stupid thing like i enjoy football. so even if it is stupid (and if i don't like it, it must be), i'll take comfort in knowing that they're enjoying something and that's pretty cool (nickelback is the exception. no one should enjoy nickelback).

i happen to be a jets fan. as a jets fan i have to put up with a lot of grief from giants fans. i'm not sure why. we're not in the same conference or division. but a lot of giants fans seem to hate the jets and a lot of jets fans seem to hate the giants. i personally don't subscribe to this concept. i have no ill will towards the new york giants. and if they're having a better season than the jets (it happens a lot), i roll with it. it's still a sports team in my area, good for them.

but i'm sure this goes well beyond just jets and giants fans. there's something hateful in a lot of football fans. i think a lot of fans need to learn to let go. if you look through the bullshit for a second, all we're really doing is rooting for a team of millionaires who work for billionaires and wear the colors of "your" team. it's not that serious. have fun with it. but there's no reason to let it turn you into something ugly. a football loss shouldn't ruin your day. watching your friend's favorite team lose shouldn't make your day. no one should say something like, "now that (insert your favorite team here) have won the superbowl, i can die in peace." that's ridiculous. this isn't your life. it's not your accomplishment. if it's something you can't just simply enjoy, and you have to dig your nails into it to the point where you become ugly and/or obsessive, maybe you should chill back and get your own life's priorities in order.

but that's just my opinion. as they say, "haters gonna hate."

to the rest of you, enjoy the season.