I have a new obsession and it’s outside of my usual repertoire of obsessions.

It’s the NFL video of the New England Patriot’s season.

Yep, this is a weird one.

Now, I have loved football for ages, so that part isn’t new.

It was always on in my house when I was growing up, as having two brothers and a father who were into it left me with no choice on a Sunday. So I wouldn’t pay much attention to it as far as the plays of the game went, but I would develop crushes on the players.

Then in highschool football was a big deal socially. I don’t remember paying to much attention to most of the games, as I was part of the "Pep Club" and it was our job to do the cheers along with the cheerleaders. We’d only pay close attention if there were the potential for a touchdown involved.

Then when I was teaching high school the faculty was more or less expected to go to the games. Actually there wasn’t much else to do in that town on a Friday night, so it wasn’t a bad thing. But in the process I learned to like football and to actually UNDERSTAND it.

Consequently, I really began to look forward to football season. Especially the New England Patriots.

Now it is a well-documented fact that New England sports fans have suffered for a very long time. We have all sorts of teams that come close to championships, but then collapse at the last minute. We used to have a basketball dynasty, but the Celtics haven’t won a championship since the 80’s. I think the last time the Bruins won was in the 70’s (God Bless Bobby Orr!). And I won’t even mention my poor Red Sox, as the "Curse of the Bambino" is an ugly issue.

Then there are the Patriots. They had never won a championship. They had made two trips to the Super Bowl, one in the 80’s when they were creamed by the Bears, and one six years ago when they were run over by the Packers.

But this was the year. They were underdogs, got no respect from anyone, and were looked on by all sorts of teams and sportscasters or writers as jokes. Joke’s on all the doubters now.

I bought the NFL video on Tuesday (the day it was released) and have been watching it over an over ever since.

And I still cry over the ending, as I did the night of the Super Bowl (along with screaming and losing my voice). My nephew told me that both of my brothers cried that night, too.

I love watching this over and over. They used the local radio guy as the play-by-play and I love him. Of course that’s who I listen to for all the games because I can’t stand the national t.v. guys. I turn down the sound on the television and turn on the radio for all the games. I prefer pro-Patriot announcers not the naysayers from television. (Although one of my favorites was John Madden during the Patriots last drive of the Super Bowl with 1:21 left to play. He kept saying, "I don’t like this, the Patriots should just sit on the ball and take it to overtime. I don’t like this strategy." Meanwhile everyone in New England knew that all they had to do was get close enough for a field goal attempt, as Adam Viniteri had never missed one in a dome.)

So anyone, I’m obsessed. I watch it over and over, get goosebumps every time and find it totally thrilling.

It’s a bit weird, I know, but there are worse things I could be obsessed over. And for a change it’s not a musical or a romantic comedy.

I guess it is typical in the sense that it has a happy ending, and in all I obsess over, happy endings are of the utmost importance!