Pigskin and Patriarchs

The males of my roommate's family (his two younger brothers and his dad) were at our apartment earlier today to watch a football game on the television. I eventually emerged from my bedroom to at least be polite and greet his dad and the youngest brother since they'd driven a considerable distance to be here (the other younger brother goes to the same university as we do) and I was immediately offered some food/snacks they'd brought. So I sat down, munched on a wing or two and watched about a quarter of the game on television with my roommate and his family -1.

1) I still don't really find football to be that exciting. It's a game. It's a sport. It gets millions of people across the nation, mostly men and boys, really riled up. But I just can't see the appeal in it. A bunch of guys on opposing sides attempting to move a pigskin into the other team's boundaries, gaining control, taking power...wait. That does sound very American. Hm. 

Sports in general just don't interest me a great deal. Sure I'll watch some major sporting/athletic events on television. Some World Cup matches. Bits of the Olympics. Otherwise I don't pledge my undying allegiance to any sports team. Hell I don't even have that much spirit for my own school's teams. I guess people enjoy it for the social aspect? If that's the case, then I can just crash friends' tailgates, but when kickoff rolls around - see ya. A part of me wonders if I'm missing some fundamental "man" characteristic that I should have when it comes to these sorts of things. In a similar vein, 

2) It intrigues me greatly to see some of my guy friends interact so well with their fathers. It doesn't even have to be some kind of deep emotional bond (because everyone knows men aren't capable of serious emotional attachment. Hah) but just basic interaction and conversation that seems to flow rather naturally astounds me. Like today, with my roommate's dad throwing jokes back and forth with him and chatting about the game like it's something as common as breathing. Or when another friend told me how he talked to his dad about romance issues he was having with a girl. These kinds of thing surprise me. I can't see myself having that level of comfortable interaction with my dad. And to be blunt, he is certainly one of the last people I would ever go to for relationship and romance advice. That much is clear. As for the interaction, well. I suppose it's something that could be slowly constructed to some basic level. I just find it difficult to try and share things with him I find interesting or hobbies I'm pursuing when I worry that everything could probably be turned around by him asking how do I find time to study concentrate on school etc so as a result I try to avoid such lectures by not talking about my interests in general. Helpful? Nope, probably not. 

I've promised myself I will strive to be an excellent father one day. I don't know how successful I'll be as I feel I don't exactly have the best model to work off of. But maybe it's a model that I can learn from its mistakes.