Revelations of my Tomboy Past

I'm pretty embarrassed about my tomboy past. Once junior high hit, I quickly figured out that being a tomboy no longer allowed me access to the guys the way I desired. No, tomboys are sidelined once junior high hits. And though I tried to bury my tomboy past, I don't think I fooled too many people that I was actually a high-maintenance girlie girl. Not when my footwear choice for prom was Chuck Taylors.

But there was a time in my dark past when I could tell you stats on best teams in the NFL. I even ordered a History of the Superbowl book from the book orders in 4th grade. My favorite team was the Pittsburgh Steelers but only because it was my best friend Keri's favorite team, who only loved them because her older brother Cory loved the Steelers back when Mean Joe Green and Terry Bradshaw played for them.

At recess the boys let me play two-hand touch football with them, mostly due to my cousin Chet vouching for me. And I wasn't bad, honestly I wasn't. I had pretty good hands and could catch a well-thrown spiral. The other sports didn't appeal to me as much as football. I used to dream of being the first NFL woman quarterback. Every year I watched the Quarterback Princess TV-movie-of-the-week starring Helen Hunt.

I'm not as in to football as when I was younger. I don't have a favorite NFL team. When Kulani and I watch football together, he tries to make it interesting for me by mentioning which of the players played for BYU back in the day, as I still follow BYU football religiously. Our favorite NFL players come first from BYU, then Kahuku High School graduates, then Utah; we're always surprised by a Utah State player in the NFL; then an MWC player, then a BSU player or a player from Idaho. To keep women interested in the game, it would be good to flash up a player's life's stats: married to the same woman since college, three kids, favorite household chore is doing the laundry, etc. But that's sexist, isn't it? Men can do laundry. I wouldn't sideline Kulani if he decided that life choice.