i love football season.

not so much because i love football, which i enjoy on occasion, but more because i love the fact that i now have saturdays to myself.

witnessing the effects that college football season has on my boyfriend eric is a phenomenon. i mean, wash u had a football team (i think). but i can't remember if they ever played. we did have a kick-ass girls' basketball team if that counts for anything.

to most big-ten schools, it doesn't.

i was awakened this morning by the "wolverine call," which sounds a lot like eric pacing around the living room making calls to every single michigan alum he knows living in washington, dc to see if he/she would be at the michigan bar. apparently today is a big game.

michigan bar to watch football? don't they know it's on tv?

maybe wash u has a bar for its alumni to go watch spelling bees and quiz bowls.

i mean, don't get me wrong. i love a good miami-uf game or a good dolphins-patriots game, and i'll follow both teams' wins and losses throughout the season without watching every single game. and i'm still more likely to kick back on the couch and watch a good football game than my little brother is. but honestly, i'd rather watch a good competition between iron chef morimoto and iron chef sakai.

when i whined to let him know he woke me up, eric came into the bedroom, decked out in almost all the Michigan paraphernalia he had. okay, it was just a hat and a shirt, but there's a chance he had a golden "m" painted on his chest that i didn't catch before he left.

he paced around the room while i was waking up, a habit he does when he's nervous.

"what's wrong?" i asked.

"i just don't want to forget anything," he replied.

"newsflash, sweetheart. you're not playing in the game," i teased.

"i know. but i want to be prepared in case they're down and they look to me and say, 'eric, we need you to come in and play quarterback.'"

oh right. i forgot. every man's dream.

eric continued to pace. he also informed me that he put himself on the waiting list for michigan football season tickets, which i learned are obtained only by donating serious cash to the athletic department. when i looked at him skeptically, he took about ten minutes to explain why it was a good financial investment.

he further reminded me that he would either be in a really good mood or a really bad mood later. he's not kidding. eric's mood for the next couple months will almost solely be determined by what happens on saturdays.

and he has made it clear that he will never ever ever ever become a religious jew. "if g-d wanted me to be religious, he wouldn't have made michigan football on saturdays."

football does crazy things to people.

eric also made me join him in a "hail to the victors" cheer before he left -- and made me do it again when i forgot the words.

maybe it's just something i don't fully understand since i never attended a college with a huge football team. so i'll indulge him. i'll even go to the michigan bar to support eric-the-quarterback when they play ohio state. and he's right: it's kind of fun.

but in the meantime, i have saturdays all to myself.

go 'canes.