The Happiness Challenge: Day 15

I'm about to blow your minds.

I love sports. BOOM! Secret's out. I especially adore football. Do any of you happen to know who my favorite teams are?

Where's all that laughter coming from? Fine. I suppose this is the worst-kept happiness secret in the universe.

I think if you've known me for longer than three and a half minutes, you know I'm a HUGE Georgia Bulldog. Football reigns supreme in my life in the fall, and pretty much any other time of the year that I can talk about it (like later in the month, in another blog post). August through November are typically a blur in my world—I spend the weekdays sandwiched between football weekends doing laundry and repacking my bags. I have a dedicated stadium bag (yes, it's monogrammed) full of handtowels (wet seats!), face tattoos, wipes, pom-poms, tissues (sometimes I cry when we lose), hand sanitizer, mints, extra sunglasses, etc. This year I had football season pajamas and toiletries, so I never had to unpack those things after weekends away. I know I'm crazy awesome. Football is on my mind again because season ticket orders are due by the end of the month.


Pretty soon it'll be summertime, and then the countdown begins. I can't wait. And to keep me occupied between now and then, there's …

Baseball!

I'm a dedicated Braves fan, no matter how many times they take me high in the sky and then clip my wings till I smash back down to earth. Remember 1991, the worst to first season? What a thrill to be a Braves fan back then, after years of expected disappointment and free tickets if you made the honor roll at school. No one else wanted 'em, may as well give them away. I didn't care when I was little though; it was just fun to be in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, long before Turner Field was constructed. I became a psycho passionate Mark Lemke fan. (Is anyone else noticing a theme with me and sports figures?) I clipped every newspaper article with his name in it, bought one of his used game hats for $20 at North Point Mall in Alpharetta, and stole my brother's autographed baseball. I'm slightly ashamed of myself for that, but not enough to give it back.


The old stadium, set up for Falcons football


And we had Dale Murphy!

Is there really anything better than dozing off and on during a relatively calm Sunday afternoon baseball game? Yes. Being there, eating hot dogs and getting a sunburn.

Naps are best saved for a lazy afternoon of golf, which I protested when I was younger but now sort of love. Team Phil!


Big fan.

Probably the only thing better than a Sunday afternoon of golf is a full Saturday of college football followed by a full Sunday of NFL games. Seriously, what's going to happen if I meet a guy who, you know, doesn't like sports? Is that a thing?

Know who else what other team I love?


SURPRISE! Hines Ward and the Steelers. I grew up rooting for the Falcons—and deep down I guess I still do—but it was all over for me the day Pittsburgh drafted my beloved. Terrible Towels for everyone. Here we go Steelers, here we go! I can only cross my fingers and pray for the Falcons to pick up Hines Ward now. That would make it a lot easier for me to get to games.

Is anyone keeping count on the happiness to Hines Ward posts?