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I wasn’t sure how to title this. I could have also said “The Friend or Family Member You Have Pissed Off The Most For A Game.”  My inspiration came from finding out Bwarniaby didn’t watch the Purdue game because it was his anniversary.  My wife envies his wife because my commitment to watching big WVU games is well established.

I have a few stories but this is probably the best. In 2010, WVU was set to play Kentucky in the Elite 8 to try to get back to the Final Four for the first time in 51 years.  The game was on Saturday night and I had been out of town for work since the previous Sunday so I was already operating from a position that wasn’t advantageous. But there were a few other factors that went against me as well.

-We had an 18 month old daughter
-Our social life was pretty much non-existent at the time
-We had tickets to a Humane Society fundraiser and a babysitter lined up for Saturday night and the plans had been made weeks in advance.
-To further weaken my position my buddy called me Friday and said they absolutely needed me Saturday morning for our church league game or we’d have to forfeit. 

Despite all this working against me I told my wife, “You know I can’t miss the game tonight.”  She said that many other husbands had expressed the same sentiment and the Humane Society had arranged for a projector screen to be brought in and they were going to stream the game through a laptop while the auction was going on.  My level of skepticism at hearing this was through the roof.

My suspicions were proven correct when we got to the banquet room of the hotel and there was this little screen held up by a tripod at the front of a room where 200 people were to be seated.  I immediately told my wife that wasn’t going to work. At this point she had lost her patience and said it was going to have to. The dinner started about 30 minutes before tipoff and during dinner I told a buddy at our table that when the game started I was bolting to the hotel bar and asked him to come with me. He said his wife would divorce him.

About 5 minutes before tipoff I took a deep breath, walked up to my wife who was mingling at this point, and said , “Honey, I’m sorry. I’m going to the bar” and walked off as she stared a hole through me.

I was literally the first person to the bar. Then a few minutes later a couple other husbands wandered over to check the score.  Then a few more, then a few more. By halftime about half the fundraiser attendees were in the bar. A few minutes into the second half the place was packed.  My wife had come over with some other women. At first she gave me the cold shoulder but eventually she was living and dying with every basket just like everyone else.  WVU won and it was one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever watched a game in.

Oh, and my wife and I had sex later that night.

With DVR, I don't even mind it.  My wife won tickets to a Penguins game Friday night, neither of us really loves hockey, but we had the tickets.  I watched MSU-LSU yesterday morning.  I watched a Final 4 game against Duke delayed so we could see Book of Mormon.

I've been known to develop an illness...

My buddy got married the same day as Florida vs FSU.  Not sure what he was thinking.  I'm a groomsman, the reception's going on and on, drinking, having a blast - all that.  The bride's dad is loaded, it's at Ponte Vedre or Sawgrass or whatever - major venue.

I wait and wait until I think it's safe, I walk across the whole building to a little bar they have with a little TV to check on the game.  I was thinking I was being a bad friend and was being sneaky - there's like 30 other people there doing the same thing!  This was when we had Zook and he was out the door, but Florida won @ FSU the night they were dedicating it Bowden Field.

So that happens, people are going back and forth all evening from and to the reception to the TV, and it's a great night.

Similar story.  My damn cousin got married the same day that WVU was playing Oklahoma St in 2013.  I’m the best man.  The game started at noon and the wedding started at 2 so we were actually able to watch the entire 1st half in the upstairs of the church.  The ceremony and a few pictures caused me to miss the entire 3rd quarter.  I sprint upstairs to check the score before sprinting back down because they are introducing the wedding party as we come into the reception hall.  We do that, I make a plate, and go back upstairs to watch the game as, again, my wife is staring holes through me.  She then comes upstairs and angrily tells me I have to make my best man speech.  I come down, do that, and go back upstairs to finish watching WVU upset the Pokes.
I, ahem, didn’t have sex that night though.

Yup.  I either turn it off, or mute any conversation who might text me.

I never have any luck avoiding scores.  We are coming back from Disney in ‘09 on a Saturday.  I get my cousin (the same cousin who got married) to go to my house and set my DVR so I can watch the WVU game when I get home.  I keep earphones in my ears all day, avoid airport televisions, and tell anyone who normally texts me during games I’m taping it.  I make it to the airport in WV without knowing anything that has happened.  We get our bags and load them in our car.  I’m home free.  I’m finally in my car, away from the public, where I can control my environment until I get home.
I pull up to the parking booth to pay my parking fee when the attendant sees my WVU hat and says, “Boy the Mountaineers really pulled it out today, didn’t they?”  I was crushed.  I told I was taping it and you could tell he felt like shit.  Then I felt like shit for making him feel like shit.  Today that wouldn’t happen because it’s all automated to pay your parking there.  But then the very last human I was going to have contact with before I got home spilled the beans.

I have kind of an opposite story to this. 

10/14/2017, ASU is hosting then #5 ranked Washington that even. Being a season ticket holder AND having the day off work (I work a lot of weekends and typically miss a couple ASU home games a season due to work despite the season tickets) I voluntarily chose to stay home. No, I wasn't sick and my transportation was more than reliable. Also, top #5 ranked teams don't come to Sun Devil Stadium regularly either, this was a huge game. So why did I choose to miss it?

Simply put: my kids. Not only was I just over 2 months into being separated from the now ex-wife, which meant seeing my kids less often due to splitting time with them, but I had also just gotten back in town from a 3 week work trip to Kansas City. No way I wasn't taking advantage of being able to spend a full Saturday with my then 3 year old twins. We had a blast together that day too. Didn't even watch the first half of the game as I was too preoccupied playing with them, but at least they were in bed by the second half so I did at least watch that much. 

ASU ended up upsetting the previously undefeated #5 ranked Huskies that night 13-7 in a very entertaining game of football. Do I regret not seeing it in person when I was more than able to? Absolutely not. 

Thanksgiving Day 2007. ASU doesn't typically play the day of Thanksgiving and normally that weekend is when they play their main rival, the university of arizona but in 2007 for whatever reason the Pac had USC playing at ASU on Thanksgiving day.

So yeah, my dad flew in to town and we were spending the day with a bunch of family we haven't seen in a while and it was nice and all but only maybe in hour into it I say my good-byes to everyone and leave before they even served the turkey. I had a football game to attend. ASU got blasted by a pretty good Trojan team, oh well.