Monday nights, Grandpa and Notre Dame football.

Sorry for rambling, but I just returned from my grandfather’s funeral and my head is still not altogether clear yet. The reason Monday nights, Grandpa and Notre Dame football are on my mind right now is because sports usually was about the only thing my grandfather and I ever talked about.

That sounds kind of sad, but it really isn’t. I think I had a good relationship with my grandpa. It’s just that, because of our age difference, we didn’t have a whole lot of topics to talk about. That’s why every time we started up a discussion, sooner or later, the topic would turn to sports and stay that way until we stopped talking.

When I used to live closer to my grandparents, I used to go over to their house from time to time. If I happened to go over there on a Monday night in the fall, Monday Night Football would no doubt be on. Grandpa and I would spend the rest of the evening discussing the Monday Night game and Notre Dame football.

Women always complain that men have a difficult time showing affection and sharing their feelings. That is very true. Unfortunately, men have twice as much difficulty showing affection and sharing their true feelings with other men than they do with women.

This is why men usually turn to discussing sports. It comes naturally to us and in a strange way it is our way of showing affection.

This brings me to phone discussions I have with my aunt and uncle on the other side of my family from my recently deceased grandfather. I truly love both of them the same, but when I talk to both of them on the phone I have two completely different discussions.

With my aunt, we actually talked about important things and before I switched and starting talking to my uncle she would always tell me that she loved me. I would always tell her that I loved her too and then I would start talking to my uncle.

The way I talked to my uncle was completely different than the way I talked to my aunt. Depending on the season, that would be the sport we would talk about. I would never dare end a phone call with my uncle by telling him I loved him. Maybe that’s too bad, but that’s the way it is.

Being a sports columnist, maybe I shouldn’t write this, but I think males spend way too much time watching, talking about, and yes, even fantasizing about sports. I’m not saying sports are necessarily evil. I still am a big sports fan. I just think that maybe if every man could spend one month or even week away from sports, they would realize that there is much more to life than sports.

During the baseball strike of 1994 a lot of men had that experience.

Instead of moping around and discussing how much they missed baseball, most men hardly noticed baseball was gone. They discovered that they could do things that did not involve watching sports at all and not miss sports all. They went to picnics, visited family members, went on bicycle trips among other things.

This was great, because most men found they could live a normal, enjoyable life without sports. They really didn’t need sports to subsist. Life could go on without sports.

And then the television NFL exhibition season started, and finally men had something to talk to each other about again.