When the husband tossed a copy of Madden 08 (football) for PS3 into the mess of things going under the Christmas tree, I might have rolled my eyes and called him an idiot. Maybe.

See, the boys aren’t really sports savvy. They’re both history buffs and enjoy games like Civil War and Blazing Angels, plus they love racing games. The Short Kid, in particular, is rather gifted when it comes to the Need for Speed franchise. But they have no sports games, and that’s no accident. So not only is Madden 08 very technical and quite complicated when it comes to using the controller, but neither kid knows jack about football.

Friday afternoon, while the husband was off snowmobiling, the kids decided to give football a try. An afternoon of unintentional hilarity ensued, and I’m here to share a few snippets of conversation:

Tall Kid: OMG, I caught it! I have to run! How do I make him run?
Short Kid: I tackled you! I don’t know how, but I tackled you!

Short Kid: I sacked you! (*does a bizarre victory dance*) Hey Mom, what does sacked mean?

Tall Kid: Why are my own guys trying to hit me?
Me: Because you’re running toward the wrong endzone, dumbass.

Both kids, off and on throughout the afternoon: Mom, what a WR? Mom, what’s an FB? Mom, what’s HB stand for? Mom, what’s the line of scrimmage?

Oh, and probably two hours into the gameplaying: Mom, what’s a down? :eyebrow:

Their very first game went into overtime when BOTH teams were tied with EIGHT points each. Yes, I’ll let you football fans dwell on the improbability of that score, but for the record, the New England Patriots (TK) beat the Indianapolis Colts (SK) in overtime.