Omaha! Omaha!

It started last night.
The anxiety.
The dedication to a few hours in front of the TV.
The random outbursts that make my dog jump.
The blowing up of my Twitter feed from my friends that watch.
The blowing up of my phone with trash talk from friends (yes Kevin, I'm calling you out).
The mocking of how Eli Manning yells Omaha before almost every play.
The NFL 2012-2013 Season.

As I watched my freaking Giants lose the opener against one of our biggest rivals, the Cowboys, I could not help but think of a few things:

One- This is the first season without my Dad. He was the man that shaped me into the football fanatic I am now. He was the guy I would call before every game to hear him yell "Let's go Big Blue". He's the one person I would break my 'no texting during the game' rule so we  could discuss why the hell they keep running the ball. Yes, technically I had to go through the Super Bowl without him but that was too soon after and I was surrounded by the perfect group of people that made me forget all about it. This was the first time I was home in the place where we used to sit together, yell together, celebrate together. It was interesting. It was heartbreaking. It was therapeutic. It was a good way to start the season (even though they did not win) and I know that home is the only place I would have wanted to kick off this year without my Dad.

Two- Ugh, rant time. The defense seemed to be sleeping, the offense was not too bad but not the way they were Super Bowl time and of course the running game. I understand the concept, maybe a little too well. Dad and I used to make fun of it; Run, run, throw/run, punt. That seems to be all that happens with them. It's like they think every time they get the ball THIS is going to be the time. Obviously not. Bradshaw seems to like to run laterally. He goes to the side to find the opening then gets stuck and we gain nothing. Yes, he has his times where he breaks through and makes an amazing run. It does not happen every time though. That is the one thing I miss about Jacobs, yeah he was not as good as Bradshaw but that man put his head down and just went. He would carry 5 other players on his back before they could get him down.

Three- The issue with the officials. Honestly I thought they did pretty well for being new to the NFL. Yeah there were a lot of flags, hello the teams were making stupid mistakes. I guarantee a majority of the calls were for holding, offsides and delay of game. Stupid mistakes made by both sides and all the calls made perfect sense. Yeah it seemed like every three second because it was! The players really were making stupid mistakes almost every play, I thought they all deserved to be called.

Four- I love my family. In my immediate family a majority of us like the Giants. I may have some uncles that are silly and like other teams (Sorry Matt and George) but we respect it. My second cousins (or something, who knows I just call them cousins) love the Steelers but we just agree to disagree since we agree on hockey. Out of all this family I cannot help but be super jealous of a few though. My younger cousins (16, 14 and 11...I think. Sorry Lunds) got to go to the game last night. Let's take a second for this. I am almost 21, been watching the Giants all my life, followed it intensely for a good amount of year and want to go into Sports Journalism. Never been to a game in my life. Sure my Dad used to go with his friends and had a ticket but he brought my younger brother. I think they drank, smoke and swore too much that Dad didn't want to take his "little girl" around. Therefore I've never gone. These little munchkins (who I remember being born) got to go before me. The sports gods hate me basically.

All in all it's the start. Yes we lost but I mean if we all remember correctly the Giants were horrible until the last few weeks last season. I remember perfectly- it was a Redskins game, Week 15, my Dad went to it and they lost HORRIBLY. That was the last game they lost, they went on a great winning streak after it. Dad was PISSED. So yes, the defending champions lost to their rivals for the season starter. It's just the start. Hopefully I'll be able to get these games in Ireland...