My son Thadd has mentioned in his column before that part of his love for sports came from his mother.

I’ve always said that my love of football came partly from the desire to be a part of my family. My mother and father were Washington Redskin fans. They got married in Washington and visited many times after. Their biggest pleasure was the Smithsonian and the Redskins. They spent many hours in the Smithsonian and many hours going to Redskin games.

On Sunday, mama would cook a huge meal and we usually ate watching football. My dad placed a television set on top of our floor model so he could watch two games at once. So you can see that it was either learn to love football or not spend time with my parents on Sunday.

I loved the Baltimore Colts back then. Once the Colts moved, I turned my love to the Dallas Cowboys because Tom Landry (head coach) and Roger Staubach (quarterback) were good Christian men and I admired them.

Now I am kinda tossed between the Miami Dolphins and the Carolina Panthers. Carolina played very well in the playoffs this year and I was anxious to see if they could make it to the Super Bowl. Sunday, I went to church and then met Thadd for lunch. We stopped by where my youngest son works to visit a minute and then I headed home to watch the playoffs.

The first game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos was a very dull game and the longer it went on the more restless I got for it to be over and the next game to start. I thought the game between the Seahawks and the Panthers would be a good one. Well it was the most pitiful thing I have ever watched. The Panthers looked so bad, I couldn’t even watch it. After the first half, I turned it and tried to get my mind off the massacre.

This is a game I have only mentioned to one other person and that is my daughter-in-law Tisha because she likes Carolina too. As a matter of fact she was the first Panthers fan in our family. She said she couldn’t watch it either and turned somewhere else. I especially have not mentioned it to Thadd because he was pulling for Seattle. Strange to say he has not mentioned to me either. I guess he feels embarrassed for me.

Well it will be time for NASCAR races to start soon and I will be in front of my television again on Sundays watching a different sport. I pull for Mark Martin in NASCAR and while he always ends up in the top of the pack, he has never won the Points Championship and this will be his last year (or so he says).

Maybe one day the Dolphins or the Panthers will win the Super Bowl or maybe this year Mark can pull out the NASCAR Championship. Either way, win or not, I will be a fan.

It’s not always necessary to win after all. Sometime it is just the journey itself and the pleasure along the way. That’s a little like life isn’t it? We don’t have to win the big deal or have the big money. It’s just making the journey and enjoying it along the way.