I need to hear from the women on this if you are a football fan.

[agame2323]

What was it that turned you onto the game?

I make my career as an NFL and NBA agent and for some reason, can not get my girlfriend to get into football. One of my clients gave me tickets to the opening game in Dallas. He plays for the team so these were pretty good seats. She decided to stay home! I tried to explain to her that the stadium was brand new and cost 1.2 billion. She didn't care. She really doesn't understand the game all that well and someone told me I should try explaining it to her. The funny part is she knows about player contracts because she hears me talk about it when I'm on the phone.

Ladies...how do I get this girl to become a football fan!?

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I don't know how to advise you on that because I've been a fan since I was 9. It started as a way for me to spend time with my mom one weekend. We were supposed to watch a movie together, but there was a game on that she wanted to watch. At first I was mad because she had made me a promise and broke it, but I sat down to watch the game and I've been a fan ever since.

 

[dawson5]

can't tell you how to get her interested but from my place I am one of only two girls on my mom's side of the family. The rest are all boys, mostly older also. When we were kids, my step-sister and I, if we wanted to play games they usually were boys games. Football, kickball, etc. I grew up playing them, understanding them and enjoying them. Does she understand the game? Do you have a nephew? If he plays sports, possibly take her to his games. Sometimes it takes "knowing" a person on the team and being more supportive for that family member.

 

[Took]

I'm not sure it's possible to "make" a person like something they're resistant to liking. I really can't blame women (or men) who hate football although I don't agree with them. However....

Are you involved or interested in her hobbies and/or profession? Even stuff you don't understand? Perhaps, she feels that she's being asked to give up some part of her "identity" ("I am a non-football person") without a clear feeling of reciprocation. Sometimes, the best way to get a s.o. to take an interest in your life is to take a genuine interest in the s.o.'s life.

Otherwise, just find someone else to go with.

Clearly, if it's really important to you that you have an s.o. who's involved with your professional life (or with sports altogether) then you'll need to talk about this fact with your GF in those terms. In that sense, she's not being forced to "like" football, but to take an active interest in your life. If she can't or won't do that, then you may find she's not "the one," after all. Surely, there are LOTS of other women who like sports.

 

[Deb in IA]

Female football fan whose experience is similar to BeachGirl's.

The earliest I remember being interested in football was probably when I was about 6 or 7. My much older cousins were over visiting at our house (18 yeard older than me), and a football game was on TV. Cousin Bob asked me if I liked football, and I said no, because I didn't understand it. He then explained the basics, and from then on, I was intrigued.

I really became a fan in high school, when our school was doing really well, and I wanted to go to the games. My dad, a sports fan, took me because I was only a sophomore, and being the geeky nerd that I was in HS, I actually sat with my dad and we watched the game together. As I learned more and more, I became more interested. I guess I loved the adrenline rush of a great play, how quickly the score can change, and yes, I liked the tight pants.

In college, all students got free tickets to football, and being in the Big Ten, we got some great games.

I married a man who was an all-county center in high school, and was considered for a football scholarship to Brown, but decided not play in college and study to go to medical school instead - smart guy! Even now, we enjoy watching football on TV, and Monday Night Football was our "date night" for a long time, before the kids were born.

Now I am mostly a college fan, but I do follow some NFL teams/players as well. Not a fanatic, I don't do fantasy football or anything like that, but I do enjoy a good game, the bowl series, etc.

 

[Angelhalo]

I don't know how to "make" someone like something that they aren't interested in....frankly I don't know that I'd want too, though it would be nice if she'd give in and go every now and then.

My mom is an avid football fan and she loves it because in high school her gym teacher made her learn the rules. She gotta really into it and still loves it to this day.

 

[sue1013]

It seems to me that my friends that are football fans all grew up with their fathers, brothers, etc. that were big football fans. Those that weren't raised with boys don't seem to like football.

 

[TriMom]

I became a football fan as an adult. Take whatever parts from this story that may help you.

My FIL LOVED Tenessee football. Rabid fan, only wore orange- ever. He invited us over to watch a game. Big time bummer for me - I hated football. But I agreed to go and be a good sport. FIL talked thoughout the whole game. It was awesome - he told me exactly what each player was doing, and why. I knew the rules of football, but I didn't really understand football until he explained it to me. It went a lot like this:

Ok, see those guys standing in the line there - they are going to try to stop the other team from getting to the quarterback. Now it's in the first quarter and we are at 1st and 10 so this quarterback will almost always hand off the ball for the run. See those 2 guys there - 1 on them will take the ball from the quarterback, and it will most likely be that guy. We got 3 yards, which is good. Now they have 3 tries to get 7 yards. Wait there is flag on the play. The refs allowed the play to continue, so it is probably offsides.

He did this for every play of the whole game, and by the time the game was over, I finally understood football, and I myself became a huge football fan.

 

[clgwli]

My dad and brother couldn't tell you a thing about football and I know pretty much all there is to know. How did I get into it? Going to football games in middle school & high school due to the social aspect of it. It took me almost my entire time in school to learn most of the rules (and I know they do differ from high school to college to pro, but still...) but I got into and loved it.

So my thought is you can't force someone. Some will like it and get into it or some won't.

I might show her some college football randomly on a Saturday (I pick that because there are so many games at all times) and explain a little about it. either she'll get this and like it or not.

 

[PatsGirl]

Started with my first real boyfriend playing on the HS team and I was hooked My own and most of my friends' sons played on the high school teams and its a tradition in my "group" to schedule weekend activities around the Patriot games! What better way to spend time together with friends during those cold winter days than eating, drinking, and cheering our team on

GO PATRIOTS!​

 

[Sandy V.]

I don't know how successful you can be trying to make someone become interested in something unless they truly want to.

I love college football and have for 40 years. Grew up with it in Nebraska as a kid when we won back to back national championships in the early 70's. That started it for me and I've always followed it since. I was a tomboy as well and always liked sports, so I guess I had a predisposition to enjoy the competition.

 

[PatsGirl]

Got so excited talking about football I forgot to add my suggestions

How about asking her to help you put together a football party for your "couple friends"? Or meeting another couple or two at a favorite pub for the game? Take her to the local sports store and buy her a new football jersey?

 

[luvmy2boyzz]

I never really became a sports fan until my boys started playing and I learned the rules. Once my DH took me to an NBA game really good seats and I fell asleep! In my defense I had worked very long hours that day! Anyways, I still don't really like watching sports on tv ( I will watch football though, it is exciting)but I love to go to the games and wouldn't turn down tickets I'm not sure you will be able to get her to become a fan if she clearly has no interest. But I wish you luck!

 

[KiKi Mouse]

i became interested in NFL about 5 years ago when I met my husband. He is a Vikings fan and he told me when we were dating that his Sunday thing to do in the winter was to watch football. I figured I may as well join him. He took the time to explain the game to me and now I can watch even on my own and understand what is going on and enjoy the game.
I am not interested to the point where I watch the draft picks or anything but I do enjoy watching on t.v. or attending the few games (8 hour drive) that we have gone to.

 

[NotUrsula]

I developed an affection for football while spending time with my Dad; he really loved it once he got a handle on the differences between US football and rugby, which he had played professionally in his home country. I used to spend lots of Saturdays sitting on his lap watching games and cheering along for our favorite teams.

It also helped that I went to high school in Louisiana and college at LSU. Football is very much a social occasion in that part of the country; going to the game is a ritual that most women students don't care to miss,and dates who are clueless about what is going on are not appreciated. My local alumni chapter events are mostly centered around watching our team play, so football is still a social occasion for me 26 years after college. (Mind you, pro ball really isn't the same for socializing. I'm not really enthusiastic about attending pro games, there just isn't as much atmosphere as in college ball, at least not MY kind of college ball. I'll only go to a pro game if I get really good seats.)

Personally, I don't know too many women who have become new football fans once past their college days. If you are in the middle of the excitement and have some vested interest in the team's victory it is easier to want to learn. Later in life women often view spectator sports as a drain on time, so if they are not already fans, they sometimes really don't WANT to become fans, because they feel that time spent watching sports will be time taken from other things that are more important in their lives.

In your case, I can see one other issue that could easily turn an SO off to the game: for you it is business. Attending a game with you is probably a situation where your attention is primarily elsewhere, and not on your date, no? Are you looking for prospects and trying to make connections? Chatting with team personnel before and after? That kind of thing can feel like a command performance, and for a lot of people mixing business and "pleasure" really isn't fun.

 

[onelilspark]

Maybe she's just smart and didn't want to be seen in the Cowboy's new stadium??

Sorry, it was too easy.

Anyway, my boyfriend is not a football person, we get along just fine. I see no reason to force the game upon him. As long as he realizes that Sundays and Monday nights, I get the good TV And he's watched a few games with me before, he knows now not to tell me "it's not like they can hear you..." In other words, don't try. If she's not a football fan now, she never will be.

I've converted some of my fellow female friends into football fans, but even they only tolerate the game. I think it's more that they enjoy the company rather than the game itself.

I'm a fan because I've always been a fan. I was born bleeding green. And at least for me, it was the norm in my household for the ladies to be football fans. My Dad couldn't have cared less, my brother...meh, if it's on, it's on...whatever. My grandfather was much more of a Phillies fan than an Eagles fan (though he watched both.) Sundays it was always my Mom and I in front of the TV. It was our time. So I think it's just something I grew up with. I noticed last Thanksgiving when the Eagles played on Turkey day and we all watched as an extended family, the females of my family were much more rabid fans. The guys were into the game, the females were the ones yelling and cursing at the TV. Kind of odd, but welcome to our family, we'll love you if you're not a Cowgirl's or Giant's fan So for me, it's the way it is, the way it's always been.

When I went away to school, I bribed a couple of my friends to come to the bar with me to watch the games (I would pay for their drinks.) And they learned the game from me. I think they enjoyed that because it wasn't a pressured situation. There was no boyfriend wanting them to learn the game. For me, all I wanted was someone to keep creepy guys from hitting on me so I could watch the game in peace!! By product is they got drinks & learned the game, became Eagles fans themselves So if you really want her to learn, find another female that's into it, don't pressure her yourself.

 

[hopemax]

Female football fan, but for as long as I can remember. I just grew up sitting next to my Daddy while he watched the game, and it rubbed off. Plus, I think it helped that my Uncle's cousin was the QB for our NFL team. Never met him or anything, but it was still a connection.

Now, my SIL became a football fan after living in Texas. She was a waitress in a restaurant that used to get big game day crowds and the energy and excitement got to her. And once people started explaining the game to her, then she got more into it. She's still not a big time fan, but at least now she understands why people like it, and would willingly watch or attend a game.

 

[~disneydiva~]

I was never into football before I got married. My dh and his cousins always did football picks each season, along with their wives. (NFL) I decided to go along with it just so I wouldn't be left out. I randomly picked the teams I thought would win..based on what city I liked, colors, etc. I actually ended up beating everyone in the picks. Talk about beginners luck!! Anyways...we watched most of the games as a big group. I kinda just got hooked on it.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I forgot to say (not that this is a reason to tell your girlfriend) but I have met or gotten closer to several of the guys I've dated by being able to talk about football like one of the guys.

 

[3jsmommy]

I think the best way to get her into it is place a bet for her, I know that would get me into the game!
My DH was a college QB & I have three sons who are into football..I've learned to like watching a game!