What Girls Should Know About Sports

Its Sunday, you want to hang out with your boyfriend, but there is one thing between you: football. Where forcing your boyfriend to ditch his plans and make him watch Bridesmaids on DVD is only going to make him miserable, it can be best for both of you to compromise. Hey, you might even enjoy it. You do not have to be the girl that spouts off facts and statistics about your team, but don’t be the girl in the pink jersey cheering for an interception at the wrong time. It is important to be able to hold your own, and with a few basic bits of knowledge, you will be included in more casual hangout time, and that always scores you points. 
 
So October is a great month for sports. Baseball playoffs, early season hockey, and football. For a girl to know when to cheer can make all the difference. By asking too many questions during a game and becoming a distraction, your efforts may be counterproductive, so take caution. Well-timed questions (during commercial breaks, there are plenty of them) and possession changes usually mark enough of a lull in games for you to find out what’s going on. If your boyfriend thinks you care, as a guy, he will probably try to show his knowledge off and initiate conversation. For major bonus points when hanging out with the guys there is one thing that earns instant respect. Food. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Whatever it is, chips, dip, or cookies, showing up with a plate of something gives you a leg up from the beginning.
           
Sports last year round, and it is very simple to watch and enjoy games without much background information required. It doesn’t matter what team you root for, but understand that if you have exposed loyalty, you cannot let someone convince you otherwise. The true fan sticks by their team, win lose or draw. A guy is going to lose respect and doubt your commitment to wanting to watch sports if you flip flop on him, so avoid that. So lets get to the basics.
 
Football
 
Football games take about three hours. With commercials and, timeouts and breaks between quarters, it’s pretty long. All you need to know about football is that you cheer when your team has the ball. On offense, your quarterback is the one throwing the ball, and the running back is the one…wait for it…. running the ball. The object is to get down the field and score. Simple as that. On defense, your team is trying their best to destroy the other teams quarterback and stop them from going down the field.
 
Hockey
 
Hockey has 3 periods, and often goes into overtime. Don’t be mad if the score is 1-2, yes, I know it sounds boring but that’s how it goes. Hockey is even simpler to understand than football, literally, hit the puck with the stick past the goalie more times than the other team and you win. Done.
 
Baseball
Currently, it’s the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals. I know, who cares. Long story short, as America’s pastime, you should know a thing or two. There are 9 innings where each team goes to bat in one half, 3 outs, and the games take about 2 hours. The pace is not like hockey basketball or football, but it’s an easy sport to watch without paying much attention. Some players you should know include: Albert Pujols of the Cardinal’s is a perennial great player. Also Josh Hamilton of the Rangers used to do drugs and be a huge partier. He came back to baseball and became an all star; that’s made for TV movie stuff right there.
 
Basketball
 
The basketball players and owners are arguing over how the money will be divided. So for now, there is no season scheduled this year as the lockout continues. That means nobody makes money and guys will watch more college ball this year.
 
At the end of the day, if you like sports, awesome. If you don’t, nobody is going to hold it against you. ?But really, I could have saved both our time with this article. Just bring food and your guy will be more interested in the chocolate chip cookies you brought than your knowledge, (or lack thereof) of the game.