Football season is finally here and it's time to play "Which Football Fan Are You?" If you don't fit any of these descriptions, I'll bet you know plenty of guys who do.
If you call yourself a football fan, chances are you fall at least part of the way into one of these three categories. If you don't, pay attention to the other people when you're on the couch watching football next sunday. Take a look to your left, to your right, and I bet you'll see one of these three guys next to you.
The student of the game. This guy follows the sport of football down to the yard and never misses a snap. He's got an NCAA game up on his laptop between two schools you've never heard of while he studies at the library. He can tell you how many sacks some backup linebacker from the Panthers had his rookie year, which was 7 years ago.
This guy probably stopped playing football after high school or never played at all, but seems to be qualified to coach in the NFL. With all that said, this guy is probably really annoying to watch football with, too. During halftime, he'll give you the stat sheet for one of the broadcast anchors who played twenty years ago. He'll call plays during a game and then scold the offensive coordinator through the TV if he doesn't call the same play. In other words, he likes everyone to know that he knows everything about football.
The fantasy football junkie. This guy is in five different fantasy leagues, which forces him to watch every play of every game his cable package offers. He'll glance at his phone (because there's an app for that, too), curse and yell the name of one of his quarterbacks who just threw an interception. One of his running backs that he decided to bench for the week rushes for 200 yards and four touchdowns. Those are day ruiners for this guy.
This guy probably has a lot in common with the student of the game, but this guy has his heart in the game. Not making the playoffs in the fantasy league cuts this guy really deep. This guy weighs trading options like he's choosing between cutting the red or green wires on a bomb. Another thing the fantasy football junkie has in common with the student of the game is that he's probably annoying to watch football with too. He's got players on all six of the teams that play that day and one of them is bound to screw up, so you'll have to listen to this guy whine about it on the couch next to you.
The casual football fan. If this already sounds like you, then you're like me. You enjoy watching football when you have time. You have a team you root for, and a team you don't like. Your knowledge of current football events covers what was on Sports Center for those 15 minutes you watched while you were killing time. You probably tried playing in a fantasy league once, but you just couldn't make yourself care that much. Too much work.
Maybe you watch football because it's exciting to see 22 muscle-bound freaks try to rip each other limb from limb in between beer commercials. Maybe you watch because all your friends watch it and there's nothing better to do. Whatever your reason is, football is not something that needs to take any extra effort for you to enjoy. No checking lineups, making trades, or looking up the number of interceptions Tony Romo threw in 2009 to prove your buddy wrong. It's not that important to you, it's just fun to watch.
