Armchair QuarterBack

My husband is a HUGE sports fan.  When we got engaged, he had to go through an interview process with my fellow board members from Ohio!  Once the questions were answered to their liking, then Ron says, “Are you an Ohio State Fan?”  He thought it was a trick question. He answered “Yes I am”.  Ron then asked, “How would you like to get married on the 50 yard line at the Horseshoe?”  That was a no-brainer, the answer was yes!  The best part? Ron is an ordained Pastor and offered to marry us.  I had no idea what a HUGE Ohio State Fan Ron was. We got into the stadium and Ron was dressed to the nines in a Suite that was Ohio State Colors. He immediately dropped to the ground, kissed the grass and then plucked up some of the grass to keep!  Ohio State was going to be pulling up the grass and putting down turf the following week. I think he was more excited to be in the stadium than we were.

I am not a sports fan, but I tried hard to know a little bit about sports so I could have a conversation with my residents who loved sports.  I had very little knowledge but would try to know who played who and what the scores were.  This would lead to my residents giving me a huge amount of information that clearly sailed right over my head. They had no idea I had no clue what they were talking about. All that mattered was someone was interested in what they had to say.

Sports have a huge impact on so many lives.  I had a resident that was bed bound due to serious health issues.  She was a HUGE Ohio State Fan.  Her family had her room decorated with OSU and she had a big screen TV before they were popular.  Her family made a list of all the games dates and times. Staff made sure she had her TV set to the correct channel every day for whatever OSU game was playing. We also knew when not to enter her room.

You cannot always get residents to the games.  However, you can have a party to celebrate the games in the facility.  I went to a local junk yard and found a liner for a tailgate. We bought a bunch of decorations that could be reused, and we would have tailgate parties for ballgames.  The residents would pick what kind of snacks they wanted to eat and several of my guys wanted to know if they could have a beer while watching the game. We also had families that started coming in and watching the games with their loved ones. This gave families a reason to visit and it gave them something to do with their loved ones when they visited.

Some of my residents were such huge fans that we had VHS tapes of games that they loved to watch and rewatch.  Now you can find a channel on TV that has reruns of games. I’ve watched my residents watch the games!  It’s amazing how they yell at the coaches, as if they can hear the advice they are giving! There are a lot of benefits to being an armchair quarterback.  The best one is there is no line to get something to eat or for the bathroom!

Submitted by Tammy Point, 2025 NAAP Leadership Team