There is a new weekend…the football weekend.

I grew up in Texas where football is king. I now live in Alabama where football is approaching a religion as we worship in front of the TV god with its offerings. Football has grown in popularity it is available most days of the week. I said most, and that brings me to my point. We have a new weekend, but one football fans don’t look forward to.

Over the Labor Day weekend, college and high school football games were available Thursday through Monday with several each day. I watched them all. I was starving for the sport and couldn’t get enough.

When Tuesday arrived, there was no football, and none on Wednesday. A new weekend has been foisted upon us. Monday night is now the end of the football week and the beginning of terrible suffering. We must endure until Thursday when the football week starts anew.

I remember when, as a kid, I would look forward to Fall weekends when we would have Friday night high school games, Saturday college games, and Sunday pro games and few were broadcast. We had to go to the games to see them. Growing up in Fort Worth, we had many Friday night games to choose from; several colleges within driving distance for Saturday, and Dad would take us to Dallas on Sunday to see the Cowboys, or the Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs) play.

It was affordable too. I remember going on a package deal to Dallas on Saturday, see a Texans game, eat dinner, spend the night in a motel, have breakfast the next morning, see a Cowboys game, all for $35 dollars apiece! I bet you can’t park at Cowboys stadium for that today, much less get a ticket to the game. I can’t even imagine the concession prices.

With HD TV, cable and satellite, new camera angles, coupled with the high prices of even college games, why go? I can see the game from the comfort of my living room, eat and drink what I want in air-conditioned comfort at a fraction of the concession prices, go to the bathroom when I want and not stand in line, and I don’t have to put up with obnoxious, misbehaving miscreants unless I invite them over.

I remember how some factions whined and moaned when ABC came up with the idea of having a pro game on Monday Night. “What a joke,” they said, “nobody will watch, that’s bowling night!” Well, bowling night has shifted and America has changed. The sport has grown so that Thursday is now another football night for both college and pro.

I have become a football junkie. I am the guy in the cartoons, “Honey, see you in February!” I love football. The season is so compact compared to my first love, baseball, which is spread over 162 games, that the intensity is dramatic. I love it. That’s why I hate the new weekend; Tuesday and Wednesday.

I’m at a loss as to what to do. Do I read, talk to my family, go to a movie, the symphony, what?  Nothing compares to five days of non-stop football. I guess I’ll do what thousands do. I’ll read about next week’s games, listen to sports talk shows, or go to the barbershop to talk football. Come on Thursday…the beginning of a new week. No one says that about Monday.

David Wilson Atwood is a local writer whose human-interest columns offer a unique perspective. He may be contacted, and his other works viewed at: www.starchasers.us, or david@starchasers.us.