When I was single, I watched a lot of sports, NBA basketball, NFL football, college football, NCAA March Madness, MLB world series, etc. It was a great Sunday when I could watch both the 10am football game, the 1pm game and have a marquee match up for the Sunday Night game. Ah, that was the life.

I was lucky enough that when I met my wife, she loved basketball and we went to lots of Lakers games while dating. We even had season tickets during the Laker’s Shaq/Kobe championships. But those days are gone. Now we have a house, a kid, obligations, social events and blah, blah, blah. I’m lucky if I can squeeze in the first quarter of a basketball game before my wife comes in and wants me to take the kid somewhere or fix the woobly table or watch Downton Abbey. And unless I want the stink-eye and all that comes with it, I smile and say, “Sure, honey.”

Thus, I watch a lot fewer hours of sports. Mostly I have to be satisfied with highlights on SportsCenter late at night after everyone else goes to bed. I’ve thought about buying the NFL package to watch my beloved Seahawks, but I know most of that money would be wasted with demands on my time to rake the leaves, or take a trip to look at curtains, or some other mundane task that could be done later. I’ve mowed the lawn in the dark and only missed a couple of spots. No big deal. Why can’t my wife understand I like my sports; I like to watch.

Most women would love a man who doesn’t watch sports. It does take up time, no doubt. In the funniest bait-n-switch marriage has ever produced, a friend of ours fell in love with a man from France and they got married. One of the things she liked about him was that he didn’t watch sports. She felt pretty lucky. Then they moved to France to live. When we went to visit them, she lamented how she felt duped. He LOVES soccer. Every weekend, “He watches the pre-game show talking about the game coming up, then he watches the soccer game, then he watches the show about the game he just watched. You never watched sports in the US.” He just shrugged and said with his French accent and attitude, “They didn’t broadcast soccer games.”

See, it’s all men everywhere around the world. Now if only my wife would accept that and let me paint the fence next week after the big game.