It’s finally here, and I’m not going to lie: I’m excited.

Nope, that’s wrong. I’m VERY excited.

For months, we have lived in the barren wasteland of sports between the end of the NBA playoffs and the end of August when college football begins. But tonight, many of us dads will settle down in a comfortable chair flanked by hot wings and pizza to celebrate the coming of the fall with with it the most glorious of all sports.

FOOTBALL.

Here’s the thing: I love football. All parts of it. All over the world football has a place in so many people’s hearts, they don their team jerseys from the west coast eagles team store online or their specific team merch website (we must not judge their choices), and they get ready. I love the pre-game and the post-game. I love the talk radio and speculation. I love the rivalries and the pageantry. I love it. I know there are card collectors who may be looking online for sites offering NFL card case breaks to help them get closer to completing their collections of this season’s teams. While I know that collecting for me, I love the enthusiasm and dedication that collectors have for their hobby. But, like anything else in life that you love, there is the tendency for us to take that thing and place it in higher esteem than it ought to be. Suddenly, that thing which is there for our enjoyment ceases to be for our enjoyment and starts to become something we use for our fulfillment. Those are two very different things.

In light of my tendency to confuse enjoyment and fulfillment with something as straightforward as a sport, I think it’s wise for me to have a plan on the front end to try and make sure that doesn’t happen. Now I suppose that plan could be something like this: I’m going to fast from the gridiron. There will be no bowl games or Superbowl parties. I will instead watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates with the three-year-old and play in the tree house every Saturday and Sunday night. I will do this as a means of safeguarding my heart and feeding my love of greater things like God and my family.

Fair enough, and perhaps that might be the right thing to do on occasion. Discipline has it place, and has its place daily. Perhaps that’s the best option for you, but I want to propose another option for the next several months. What I want to propose instead is a challenge that allows for the enjoyment but guards against the fulfillment. Something that helps us keep something, like football, in the proper place in our lives. Something that allows for the relaxation and enjoyment that can come with watching a sport and at the same time does not promote a lifestyle centered around that sport.

So here’s the challenge for the dads out there this football season: Each week, choose only one game that you’re going to watch, start to finish. The same goes if you use a site like https://ats.io/sportsbooks/nfl-betting-sites/ to bet on matches, just one game (the one you’re going to watch, that way you’re not tempted to watch more matches). That’s going to take some intentionality and some thought. But look at the schedule. Pick out what you want to see. Communicate that with your wife and your kids, and then enjoy it with whoever wants to enjoy it with you.

Then, when the game is over, turn off the TV.

Simple, right? I think so. But simple doesn’t mean easy because I know for me, the tendency is to default to the football game no matter when it’s on. For it to be the background noise and the constant companion from August until February. For me to feel slighted and robbed if, on Monday, I didn’t get to spend 9 hours over the weekend watching television. No wonder many people, like myself, will try and find the best TV device deals on websites such as https://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/ so they are ready for the sports season.

This seems like a better way. A balanced way. One in which I, as a fan, get the enjoyment but don’t rest in the enjoyment for fulfillment. One in which my wife and kids aren’t frustrated by a dad who is watching TV instead of playing with Legos or throwing the baseball.

So tonight, if you need me, I’ll be watching Vanderbilt play Ole Miss. But I’ll be available on Saturday.