I’m Losing My Spouse To College Football

I haven’t actually LOST her, but there are moments this season when my wife Meg seems to check out of our non-football conversations and turn her concerns about Oklahoma Football up to 11*. Following our youngest child Brett’s admission to The University of Oklahoma back in the fall of ‘18, both Meg and I began to take a more focused interest in OU Football…the amazing history, the incredible athletes that have emerged from the program, but especially the College Football Rankings! In fact, in the two seasons we’ve been paying close attention to these rankings, we’ve become a bit spoiled by OU’s success, and now Meg will not accept anything less than a College Football Playoff Appearance. When our beloved Sooners unexpectedly lost to lowly Kansas State two weeks ago (effectively ending our chances to make this year’s playoffs), Meg wouldn’t even look at me…I seriously thought she was going to cry. And we were drinking champagne on a beach in SoCal when we found out about the loss! This newfound deranged passion is coming from a woman who never cared a lick about college football; she actually resented it, having grown up with a father who obsessed about The Wisconsin Badgers (I’ll save my recollections of Meg’s Dad Fred and his “Bucky Badger” collection for another blog post). I’m almost relieved that this year’s OU team will likely miss the college postseason, so I can have my wife back…but don’t tell her I said that. 

John Young

*: Reference from the 1984 movie “This Is Spinal Tap,” for folks born after, say, 1990.