I don’t know if you are like me, but when it comes to big holiday gatherings and knowing you’re going to be doing plenty of small talk with people you may not have a whole lot in common with, it is always very handy to have sports to talk about. This has become my best secret to easily chatting with all kinds of people in all walks of life.

You see, it all started about 10 years ago when my husband and I worked together at a job for USPS where we worked at a building full of thousands of computers, where we’d key in the addresses for the mail that was unreadable by the machines. You’d work your 8 hour shifts mindlessly and easily and would pass the time by listening to whatever you wanted to. I worked for over a year there by myself and went through plenty of books, in particular scary thriller books by James Patterson to keep me nice and alert through my long graveyard shifts. My husband joined me a year later and I began to start sharing headphones and we’d trade off listening to his sports radio and my audiobooks. I scoffed at the sports radio at the beginning and didn’t really think I’d find it particularly entertaining. Boy, was I wrong! By the end of the year before we quit, my head was full of statistics from practically every major sports team and I knew way more about sports than almost every man and woman I came in contact with. I even grew to like the local sports radio guys so much that when I came to Utah from Iowa for the holidays, I went and paid them a visit to meet them in person at a remote location where they were doing a live show. I was starstruck haha!

Now, I wouldn’t say you need to go this far, but I would highly recommend that if you are not a big sports fan, this is the year to get into it a bit! Pick a local team and have some fun. Let me make another point. On December 18, 2022 we had the privilege to watch the FIFA Men’s World Cup Championship soccer game on tv and it was probably the most exciting sports event I have EVER watched in my entire life! I wouldn’t really consider myself a big soccer fan at all and to be honest with you I didn’t even know who was playing in the game when I first walked in the room at the beginning of the game, but my family had so much fun cheering, chest-bumping and practically crying tears of joy for Argentina as they won. It was tied at the end of regulation and nail-bitingly came down to penalty kicks and was so incredibly exciting! It was such a whirlwind of emotions, full of highs and lows, but I couldn’t help but think about people who missed out on watching this game. I knew going into Christmas parties that I wanted to talk to everybody I knew about this amazing game, but I knew plenty of family members on both sides who couldn’t care less about sports and didn’t watch it.

I truly feel that you are missing out so much on some really incredible human emotions that are so fun and wildly exciting if you don’t have any interest in sports. This year could be the year to get really into being a fan of a team or player and following along for the journey, with all its ups and downs. If nothing else, you could get into it for the snacks! :) There’s no spread better than a SuperBowl spread! And of course there is tailgating. What would college football be without tailgating, right?

This year you could try this delicious recipe I have at the bottom for super simple crescent rolls, filled with spinach and artichoke dip that make the perfect appetizer for any potluck or party. My mom made them for our holiday party and they went quickly! I loved them and I hope you will too.

Are you a big sports fan? Did you happen to watch the World Cup Championship game this year? If you are not a sports fan, do you still like to participate for the food and watching parties? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.



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