Sunday Night Football 🏈

 dancingwithalsandlife.blogspot.com 

Cool, crisp air, sweatshirts, Friday night lights and tailgating are long awaited after experiencing warm summer season of beach vacations and no school. For most Americans, the beginning of fall not only signifies going back to school, it is the start of a very important season, American football.

September 4th was the first NFL football game to kick off the season this year.  My Sunday night football started slightly before on Sunday, August 31, 2025. A dive tackle came as a complete surprise, and the interception was perfectly executed. I am surprised there were no yellow flags thrown because being tackled from behind while disabled seems like it definitely warrants throwing a yellow penalty flags.  “Holding” and “unnecessary roughness” on a play.

Welcome to the world of a husband who is navigating the game of ALS with his wife. The constant need to always be keenly alert of my position on the field ensuring I can safely get to first down without any fumbles is his high priority.

For several years now, my husband and I have been watching Thursday night football on prime. Not only have we been watching football, my husband has fantasized about being a professional cornerback just like Thursday night prime commentator, Richard Sherman. Although, I must say, if anyone knows my husband, he/she would most likely say his position on the field would be as a kicker because of his physical attributes of being a tall, 6 foot four slender man. His preference though would be to hold the title of cornerback because the position typically is among the fastest and most agile football players, specializing in skills like anticipating routes, backpedaling, disrupting passes, making interceptions, and tackling to prevent offensive gains. This cornerback position is appealing because he likes the way they mess with the other players on the field stopping all of their moves.

Needless to say my man's dream of owning the cornerback title is not a fantasy. It has become his reality in our ALS world because he is constantly needing to anticipate my moves and engage in dive tackles to prevent falls. In addition, he backpedals behind me after I travel around the house in my motorized wheelchair ripping off doorway trim, constantly dropping shit on the floor and wiping up messes I leave in my wake.

His cornerback position was recently evident in my latest play on the field. The kicker quickly turned into a cornerback by dive tackling me to once again prevent another fall on the floor. While taking a few steps with my rollater, I lost my footing and balance while next to the bed. As I started to fall to my right, he ran behind me and perfectly executed a dive tackle to my left blocking my play to ensure I landed on top of the bed instead of on the floor. I was in a state of shock because I didn't see it coming, the fall or being tackled from behind. However, this all prevented my offensive gains of winding up on the floor and not being able to get back up again, or worse, the possibility of another sustained injury.

Because he is always on the outside areas of my playing field to ensure my safety, he checks all the boxes for the skills and attributes of a cornerback. He has definitely earned the cornerback title in my world. He has explosive speed and agility to keep up and swiftly change directions. He can read my eyes to anticipate throws and make interceptions, covers my corners and is strong enough to contest catches and make solid tackles. Most importantly, he has the mental toughness as we operate under immense pressure requiring critical resilience and focus. The only difference is I pay him a very poor salary, and he doesn't get highlighted on reels by Richard Sherman, the cornerback commentator. However, I do think if we had a camera crew following us around on our playing field, the camera reels would be hysterical and definitely get some hits. Welcome to fan favorite, Sunday night football at the Clauss house of fumbles, penalty flags, and most importantly, touchdowns!!!!

8/31/25