Football day!

So my doomsday prediction about the Panthers losing to the Lions didn't come to pass, though my guys were down 10-0 at one point. Not even a TD by my future husband Jeff King (yay for the tight ends!) could help me shake that sense of foreboding........I'm just saying, set aside my step-dad's jinx and the Panthers' unfortunate propensity for losing to terrible teams. Daunte Culpepper made me nervous. It was in this very stadium three years ago that Chris Gamble destroyed the ligaments in Daunte's knee, and possibly his Hall of Fame career. Washed up, written off, Daunte has one last shot at redemption, in the very place where it all went south. If you'rer writing the Daunte Culpepper Story, how would you end it? Exactly.

Even though the Panthers were up 31-22, I was deeply freaked out to have to leave my house at 4 p.m. so that I could get to my nephew's "super bowl" on time. But the boys pulled it out, and now at 8-2 they're narrowly leading the division. Now, for the day's main event...

The "super bowl"/cheerleading competition was actually scheduled for yesterday. Yes, it rained all through Friday night and Saturday morning, but by the time I woke up Saturday, the sun was shining and the day was on its way to 70 degrees. But the geniuses in charge of the league decided that the field was too fragile to handle 22 80-lb. players at one time, so instead these nine and ten year olds found themselves playing at sunset in 40 degree weather.

There's not much better than watching little kids play football. Sure, most of them weigh less than their pads and helmets, but it's just so cool to see a 10-year-old lob a pass (!) and another 10-year-old actually catch it (even if it's a 10-year-old from the other team...). There weren't a ton of completions, thanks to the fact that the kids' hands were frozen blocks of ice. But they were hard-core into it. I wish I could say the same for the refs, who seemed to take a fairly casual attitude toward their officiating. It irritates me to see adults blow off anything that's so important to the kids involved.

My sister was justifiably pissed off that my nephew sat the bench the whole time, but I think he was more concerned about getting to someplace warm. Even though he wasn't having the best time in the world, I'm really proud of him for sticking it out for the whole season. And I'm even more pleased that no one cheap-shotted him after the whistle this time, because I really wasn't looking forward to beating up a little kid, even one from Mt. Airy.

But the best part came before the game started. The woman singing the national anthem was apparently under the impression that she was auditioning for "American Idol," judging by her unfortunate belting tendencies. Toward the end she blew out the microphone or something, because she started cutting in and out about the time we saw through the night that our flag was still there. Here's the cool part: all around me, I could hear random people picking up where she left off, singing along through the end. It was one of those cheesy moments that nevertheless give you chills for some reason. Maybe I'm just a goofball, but I thought it was awesome.