Football season is here! I’m so excited that I’m beside myself! It’s time to get out all my San Diego Chargers gear—my a-bit-on-the-snug-side Charger tees, my Charger sweatshirt and my Charger baseball cap. My Charger banner too. I’m a big Chargers fan, you know. At least that is the case since I figured out that my son Josh, really, really is a BIG Charger fan. He’s a mega-obsessed fan who knows every member of the team (I’m lucky if I can name one), where they attended school, their statistics, their injuries and what their odds are for playing well this season.

And he’s been so patient trying to teach me everything about the Chargers and the game, so I can be a true blue fan too. I listen and nod and I try to take it all in. Emphasis on try, but the thing of it is (and please don’t tell him), I just don’t get it.

Guys running across the field and then they run back, throwing the ball a few times and man, can they throw far! Of course, the other team makes it so hard for them to run across, constantly tackling and flinging themselves unmercifully on their opponents. Why can’t they just take turns? Why do they have to play so rough? It’s no wonder they have to wear all that heavy equipment, if you ask me. How their mothers can stand it, I haven’t a clue.

So obviously I don’t know much about the game. But that doesn’t matter. The real reason I’m so excited that football season is here is because it means my son is bound to come down to San Diego and visit me! Josh will want to go to a game or two and he will want to stay over because it’s too much trouble to make a round trip drive back to Ventura in one day. So I can’t wait. I’m going to pour over the home game schedule. Then I’ll call him and nonchalantly ask which games he’s planning to attend this season. I’ll make sure I’m free on those weekends so I can be available for quality time. I’ll act as if I know a thing or two about the Chargers, and ask him what he thinks about the new roster. I’ll offer up a word or two about this year’s defense. Maybe I’ll drop a few statistics that I’ve just researched extensively online, so that he’ll be so impressed he’ll want me to come along again.

Last fall, Josh’s boss gave him a pair of tickets to see the Chargers play the Miami Dolphins and Josh invited me to join him! It was right around my birthday so I figured it was his gift to me, which made it truly special. What better gift could a mother desire than to go to a game with her son? A chance to spend some extended quality time with my son, all decked out in our Chargers team best, watching him get all worked up over a football game! His favorite team in the world playing the Dolphins!

Problem is, I just adore dolphins. I have been to Sea World many times and I find the dolphin show to be amazing; they’re so clever and smart. Which made me feel sort of bad about rooting against the Miami Dolphins, particularly since they wear such bright and cheerful colors—turquoise and orange—reminiscent of Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas on the “Miami Vice” show. Why do we have to pick sides, anyway? Can’t they all be winners? Still, for my son, I overcame my fashion sensibility and firmly planted myself in the Chargers’ corner, which meant cheering for every Charger field goal, groaning each time the Dolphins scored and doing a happy dance when the Chargers finally won the game.

Yes, it’s football season and I’m changing the sheets on the guest bed which actually used to be Josh’s bed. And I’m baking my special recipe for banana bread, his favorite. I’m also stocking up on laundry detergent so I can get ready to wash the stacks of dirty clothes that he’s sure to bring with him. It’s football season and I just can’t wait. Go Chargers!