Getting your woman to understand/enjoy the Patriots

[102 Pat]

My then girlfriend, now wife, starting watching Pats games with me from 2005 onward (we started going out that summer) and she of course enjoyed the tight pants and looking at TFB. It's grown from that and she now enjoys watching the games and has developed a pretty good knowledge of the game. I got her a mens Brady silver jersey off eBAY in 2006 and took it up a notch last season getting her a womens Welker jhome jersey. It was a nice milestone for her as she's been losing weight and can now wear a women's jersey. And I'll be honest, the women's NFL jersey look much more better on her than the men's jersey.

 

[Disco Volante]

I'm guessing a book isn't going to do much.

I'm telling you, the best way is to just to break down everything that is happening during a game. Obviously not the more intricate "Well see the RB is hitting the 3 hole and they're playing in a 4-3 defense". The biggest key is that she understands downs & yards to go. Once she understands this, the game won't be as unbearable. After she has a firm understanding of that you go on. Explain punting, point-afters, kick/punt-returns, all the basics.

After teaching her something, have her show you her new knowledge on the next drive.

Also, this goes for teaching any new football fan, not just women! As I wouldn't want this to sound condensing to any of our great female posters here.

 

[blackglass3]

My wife is from the Philippines, so when she got here in 2004 she had no clue about it, except for a preseason game we sort of half watched on AFN tape delay when we were in Korea together. Anyways, when she got here I showed her the SB38 full game DVD and explained the basic concepts to her. Then, finally, football season started and the first live regular season game she watched was the Colts/Patriots season opener (I am sure you all remember it). She was sort of into it, I think mostly because of how amped up I was, especially with it being such a tight game. And I still had to explain things to her, which was fine since I knew it would pay off in the end. Tedy Bruschi being half filipino/half italian (like our sons) also helped her along in getting interested. But now, 6 years later, she genuinely enjoys it. She's got a Moss jersey she wears (and yes, the female ones look MUCH better on women), and Sunday's at our house are pretty harmonious.

Good luck getting her into it, and give it time. It's not going to happen over night, but nurture it and her love of the Patriots will grow.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Remember, she's watching you.

What does the fact that you're obsessed with football reveal about you? Is it that you are a physically aggressive person trapped inside a wimp's body? Or are you escaping from the disappointments of everyday life by identification with success? If you can communicate what makes you love football and show her that it fits in with being a decent, lovable human being, you're on your way ...

 

[Mike the Brit]

Some techies are sports fans, but if they're not, it's pretty hopeless trying to convert them.

Shmessy used to like to say that football is "violent chess". I'd say it was violent poker -- and I know a LOT of maths/tech people who are poker fans.

 

[Tunescribe]

Remember, she's watching you.

:bricks:

What does the fact that you're obsessed with football reveal about you?

Is it that you are a physically aggressive person trapped inside a wimp's body?

:nono:

Or are you escaping from the disappointments of everyday life by identification with success?

:ugh:

If you can communicate what makes you love football and show her that it fits in with being a decent, lovable human being, you're on your way ...

:rocker:

 

[Mike the Brit]

:bricks:







:nono:



:ugh:



:rocker:

Sorry -- those may have been a bit too autobiographical ...

Good luck!

 

[BelizePats]

Its a complex process that can't happen overnight and my hats off to you for wanting to get her involved. I've had girlfriends who resented the Pats and a couple who got right on board. I'm completely honest with my girlfriends and I make it very clear that I'd like them on board as much as possible when it comes to the Pats.
My last serious girlfriend was always trying to get me to do other things when the Pats games were on and she had no interest in going to Boston (Foxborough for Sunday) for a long weekend to go to see a game live. When she purposely scheduled a dinner with friends on a Sunday night (when the pats were playing on the NBC game) and expected me to join them, I knew it wasn't going to work.
You want a woman that's involved in your passion for the team, at least to some degree. It just makes everything better and easier.
If she's resentful of the time you direct on Sundays and the occasional Monday, to the Pats, its usually a sign of bigger trouble ahead.

Listen to the women on this board. They are smart and insightful!
You are a good man, Tunscribe, for trying!!!!

 

[Kontradiction]

Here's a pic of the fan-in-the-making:

With all of the enemies you have made with Jets fans around here, you shouldn't have done that. They'll use that to get under your skin.

 

[patsfan-1982]

my wife is a big fan of the pats she sits there and watchs all the geams with me and my 2 lil princess 8 and 1 will be rocking there tom brady, jerseys on game day

 

[PatsfanGlo]

I gave up long time ago.....she likes TFB but only because she's into drama(whole Giesele, Bridget Moynahan bs....'do you think Bridget got pregnant on purpose?'). I rather not hear that non-sense and pause the game every single time Pats make the first down....I don't know what it is but my opinion is most women(asian ones especially) are programed not to understand concept of four downs and how you need 10 yards to make another first down. After frustrating 75th time, I gave up on it and I just want to be left alone watching the game....its my only me time and I do not want my sanity put to the test while watching Pats....

 

[ausbacker]

Well I've been embarking on the Antonio Cromartie School for the loving of women. I can see the Patriots lingerie costing me an arm and a leg... and that's for my benefit and my benefit alone.

 

[Bill B.]

My wife grew up a Rams fan. Her Dad had 3 season tickets to the Rams since the late 1950s. He used them mostly for business, but he was always good for a couple of games a year. I wasn't a Rams fan, but I was a Bettis fan and it was football and for free so it was always fun to go. When the Rams moved to St. Louis I saw first hand the pain it caused longtime fans. After they won the Super Bowl and Georgia Frontiere said, "This proves we did the right thing by moving away from LA", my wife was so disgusted that she declared, "Thats it. I am never rooting for the Rams again. I am becoming a Patriot fan through marriage." Super Bowl 36 was doubly sweet for us. Not only the Patriots first Super Bowl, but against the now hated Rams.

We go to a local sports grille on Sundays and make it a family event. There is quite a few transplanted Patriot fans that are there. We have a few traditional things that we do. One of them was that after a Patriot TD, my duaghter would put on an old throwback leather helmet and go around and everyone would tap the helmet. She started to complain of headaches during the 2007 season. Now that she is 13, she still wants to go see the games but isn't sure she wants to do the tap the helmet thing anymore. They grow up so fast, but at least I'm raising her to be a Patriot fan

 

[Tunescribe]

With all of the enemies you have made with Jets fans around here, you shouldn't have done that. They'll use that to get under your skin.

They better watch out, she can be lethal when provoked.

 

[JoeSixPat]

This Thursday's preseason opener also will be my girlfriend's first football game in person, ever. Thankfully (and somewhat surprisingly to me), she's eager to learn about the game and the Patriots about which she knows practically nothing. So, I got her a copy of "Football For Dummies," a Pats pink hat/T-shirt/hoodie, and we've begun the process. Though I'll be attending most of the games with a buddy of mine, I figured it would be wise to get the woman as interested in possible so the upcoming hours in front of the TV -- away games, SNF/MNF, etc. -- go more smoothly. I'm curious how others here have fared with this and what creative suggestions might be offered.

I keep it very simple for newbies.

Football = Violent Live Chess

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

#1. I pre-screened my future wife by taking her to Patriots games. She's followed the Pats forever. She recognized Bledsoe for the tease he was well before I admitted to the fact. Admitedly she DOES get into the Bridgett/Giselle type thing and doesn't care for BB's girlfriend and stuff like that. Oh well. There's always something.

#2. It is imperative that kids, especially daughters get brought up as Patriots* football fans. My daughter married a Mr MIT engineer and Mozart fan who'd never watched football, go figure. But months into the marriage he'd call me up enthused about the outcome of a Pats game.

* I suggest sterilization if the parents are JETS fans

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

I'm guessing a book isn't going to do much.

I'm telling you, the best way is to just to break down everything that is happening during a game. Obviously not the more intricate "Well see the RB is hitting the 3 hole and they're playing in a 4-3 defense". The biggest key is that she understands downs & yards to go. Once she understands this, the game won't be as unbearable. After she has a firm understanding of that you go on. Explain punting, point-afters, kick/punt-returns, all the basics.

After teaching her something, have her show you her new knowledge on the next drive.

Also, this goes for teaching any new football fan, not just women! As I wouldn't want this to sound condensing to any of our great female posters here.

A great tool for teaching the basics is to watch the international broadcasts of the Super Bowls on the Super Bowl DVD's. ONe of the Patriots dvd's, I believe for SB39 has this with **** Stockton and Moose Johnson. They keep things simple and explain things early on. As the game moves on, they get a little more detailed and specific. It is like watching a class on football where the curriculum starts with understanding down and distance and by the end understanding what a zone blitz is.

 

[Gwedd]

My wife hates football and I like it that way. It means she'll leave me the hell alone on game day. I am, however, corrupting our youngest as a Pats fan..... :rocker:

I've been redesigning the living room as a football/Patriots shrine. I hope to soon be installing a green carpet with hashmarks running side to side. I've been designing a mount for the flat screen TV that looks like a set of goalposts. In yellow. I'm trying to gin up a stencil for the Patriots logo midfield for the middle of the floor. If I could figure out how to do it, I'd plaster the walls with a large, HD image of the stadium, complete with fans, etc, for that "being there" sense.

All in all, if the wife hates it, it means I am doing something right.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

Much of this thread stands as condescending bull tainted not so lightly with that - "oh, if I get her a pink hat and don't scream too loud my woman will probably only get up and leave the TV room for half the game!!! Including all the big plays she'd realize were huge if she'd only sit down and do what I do!!!!!" - mentality that sinks so many couples right off the bat.

Missing is -
Hmm, a woman can decide on her own if she likes this game. What?

My woman is actually interested (quietly) in trying to share my passions... Really?

The inevitable (and among so many: secretly hopeful) result of the employment of this too typical behavoir is a turn off by your "woman." Some people like football and some don't. But some are willing, and even eager, to share it with someone they love. But no one likes feeling they are being tested for acceptability while at the same time they are supposed to be feeling the local joy of Moss going 72yds for a perfect score.

Imagine, gents, the look of such a thread started on a cooking, ballet, gardening (etc.) site. "How to get your man interested in Bouillabaisse," for instance. How many 'men' having posted in this Patsfans thread would read women's replies to Bouillabaisse (essentially parallel to how to get woman to like the Pats) and say to themselves , "that's never going to happen..."

Think about that next time you get cranky about your 'woman' and her reaction to football...

 

[patchick]

Imagine, gents, the look of such a thread started on a cooking, ballet, gardening (etc.) site. "How to get your man interested in Bouillabaisse," for instance.

Make it "clothes shopping" and I think you're on to something. Is men's widespread lack of interest in clothes shopping simply a matter of ignorance? If they could only understand clothes shopping, would they come to love it? Is the problem that their mothers didn't spend time shopping for clothes with them when they were kids, depriving them of that critical period of shopping development?

Seriously, some guys could learn to love it, some couldn't. And some non-football fans of all stripes can be taught a love of the game, while some just genuinely don't like that sort of thing. But the impulse to want to share your interests with your partner is an awesome one. Nothing makes people of either sex feel crappier than to know that their partner eagerly looks forward to their absence in order to have a good time.