I was going through my Facebook news feed and came across an article I never really paid attention to on blackandmarriedwithkids.com. By the way, I really like their website and how it seems to be written by real people. But this article, "Love and Basketball: How To Minimize Arguments With Your Spouse During A Major Sporting Event", really bothered me. In this article, the author laments how her husband watches so much sports on television. She doesn't understand how he is "plopped on the couch alllll day on Sunday to catch his favorite teams" and was happy when two professional leagues were locked out. Is she serious?
First of all, it's one day a week. This lady didn't say he's always watching the game all day every day and never spends any time with her. She said that on Sunday, he's watching the game all day. Since I've been married, I do know that I can't be camped out on Sundays watching football all day like I used to before I got married. But my wife has enough sense to leave me alone to let me watch the Dallas Cowboys game or the Dallas Mavericks in peace without bothering me. Is it too much to ask for a few hours a week to watch what I want to watch? I don't think so and my wife agrees. I might not turn the television on again all week except to watch the news and Sportscenter. I'm a hard working man; let me have my sports in peace.
Secondly, it's not like women don't watch a lot of television. If you timed how much television a man watches for sports and the amount of television women watch for everything else in a week, women watch far more television. From soap operas to reality television shows to weird drama filled sitcoms to Lifetime movies, women watch television ALL the time. Men seem to be able to let women watch all this television without protest. Sometimes, we'll even sit down and watch the show she wants because she wants to spend quality time watching these lame, women-oriented shows we would probably never watch if we were not married. Yet, it seems like leaving men alone to watch sports is just too difficult. That seems kind of selfish to me.
Last of all, in the words of the great philosopher Cedric the Entertainer, he's a grown ass man dawg!! It doesn't make any sense that this man, who is a good hard-working husband from all the other posts, can't enjoy watching sports in peace. She's suggesting that her husband leave his house to go to his friend's house or a sports bar to watch the game. Should wives go to a friend's house to watch "Keeping up With the Kardashians" or "Braxton Family Values" because it bothers her husband? If a husband tries to be that controlling of his wife's television viewing behavior, it's considered emotionally abusive. Why is he not supposed to enjoy sports any more because he got married and had kids? The whole idea of wanting to control what husbands watch on television and when he watches television is to me very selfish and controlling. It reminds of how mothers treat children instead of how two adults who are equal partners in a relationship should relate to one another.
It should not be a big deal that husbands wants to watch sports in peace just like it's not a big deal that wives want to watch "The Game" or "Private Practice" or "American Idol" or "The Bold and the Beautiful" or "The Voice" or "Dancing With the Stars" in peace. Just these six shows put together are two whole football or basketball games and they come on week after week after week. Ladies, let your men enjoy themselves with their sports. If you want your husband to give up his sports to spend time with you, be willing to give up your some shows as well. That's only fair.