I grew up thinking that I hated hockey. If there was a hockey game on, it meant that I never got to watch The Love Boat.
Then I married somebody who loved hockey. I used to send him off to a friend’s every game night. Then I tried watching it with him. Turns out, I love hockey. Plus I liked him staying home with me.
It took time, learning all the terms, finding my own rhythm. If it hasn’t been so easy for you, let me suggest some alternative ways to making the evening less tedious and more palatable:
1. Athletes are, in general, attractive people. Therefore, eye candy.
They eat right. They exercise. They are confident and healthy and motivated and dedicated. They have to be all these things or they’ll lose. So look around the field. There’s got to be some sweet eye candy available. It is fascinating how suddenly everything gets that much easier when there’s someone rugged to focus on.
2. Pick a team.
It doesn’t have to be your partner’s team, although in some households any other option is unacceptable. Watching a sport with no preference is like reading a book with no ending. You don’t have to go so far as to be that geeky couple in the stand wearing matching jerseys (although I have been one part of that duo in my lifetime). But once you pick your side, that’s when it really gets exciting.
3. You’ll make your partner proud.
At more than one party, I have caught my husband watching me across the room as I discussed who was worth the big money more, Ovechkin or Crosby? Last time he looked at me like that, I was wearing something red and slinky. Now all I have to do is show my well-informed side (plus a dose of trash talk) and he’s putty in my hands.
4. And this is the best of all:
I guarantee you that your partner wants to watch it with you rather than without you. That was the biggest lesson I learned. My husband was so pleased after the hockey bug had bitten me. Now if I even suggest that I would rather have a bath than watch the game, his face grows long and sad. That’s love.
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