Fionnuala is always the first up in our house on week days, busying herself making lunches, ironing uniforms and the million and one other things she has to do to get three kids and a husband out the front door in the morning. It’s chaos, but organised chaos. I normally arrive downstairs 15 minutes or so after her, having spent the preceding time making myself beautiful in the bathroom. Or something like that.
This morning I discovered my wife humming along to some tune on the radio. I sniffed an opportunity to tackle our plans for the weekend….or rather my plans for the weekend. Adam has a rugby match on Saturday morning, while in the afternoon there was the Ireland v Wales rugby international. Probably the biggest match of the season and utterly unmissable.
Then there’s the small matter of Manchester United v Wolverhampton Wanderers in the F.A. Cup Quarter Final after that. Probably the biggest match of the season and utterly unmissable. Basically I was seizing a window of opportunity to tell my beloved, overworked better half that I intended to devote the majority of the day to watching sport. Or sports as my North American readers call it.
Men and their sport eh? Er…sports. Oh….whatever. Fionnuala is not a sports fan, while I will watch almost any sporting event. Although I’m not that keen on golf. Or tennis for that matter. But give me football (soccer), rugby or the NFL and I’m glued to the screen. If I was allowed to get away with it. Thankfully, she manages to divert my attention to more rewarding endeavours. Like starting this blog, writing a book, getting up and behaving like a functioning human being most days.
We’ve been together for 22 years now and have survived via compromise on many topics. Give and take. I’m not a total sporting bore. I’ll only watch a game if one of my teams is involved. Which means United, Ulster, Ireland, the Redskins and Tyrone GAA. I’ve cut down on my celebrations over the years, satisfying myself these days with a strangled roar and muted fist pump whenever they score.
To compensate, Fionnuala has unlimited access to her soaps throughout the week. Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Neighbours, need I go on. The same goes for her legendary box sets binges. After the summer long digestion of Breaking Bad a few years back, she is currently immersed in The Good Wife. And don’t get me started on her obsession with Blue Bloods. Although Selleck’s moustache looks as magnificent as it was in his Magnum P.I. days.
We don’t hide the remote control on each other. We have middle ground which we both comfortably inhabit as opposed to peeking out of our respective trenches across a no man’s land of bomb craters and barbed wire fences. We are flexible and accommodating. An attribute it has taken my self centred, selfish inner voice many years to come to terms with. But I’m getting there, slowly.
Fionnuala jokingly sighed when I tentatively broached the subject this morning, but I knew it wouldn’t be a problem. Just as it’s not a problem me writing this post as she devours Season 5 of The Good Wife. The white flag of truce flutters over chez Black. Peace has broken out in the battle of the remote control. Now come on United. Let’s go Ireland. And where’s that tub of honeycomb ice cream and six pack of Diet Coke?
Who wins the battle of the remote control in your house?
What was the last show you binge watched?
Do you ever miss a game when your favourite team or on TV?
Black Thoughts 
Ah, yes, this is my life, too. Our solution: multiple TVs. Richard can watch sport(s) to his heart’s content on the big TV downstairs or the little one in his home office. I can watch what I want on the one in my home office. Haven’t solved his “yelling at the TV” thing, however.
How about a blog to explain why men are so obsessed with their teams? I truly don’t get it. Why is it exciting to rave or curse about a game that other people are playing while making obscene amounts of money? Do enlighten us!
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Hmmmmm now that’s a challenge I might just accept 🤨
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My husband keeps the remote but relinquishes it if there is something I really want to watch, which doesn’t happen to often. We both have similar tastes. The only sport my husband watches is baseball and cheers for any team that beats the Cardinals hoping it will help the Cubs one more time win the series. I like baseball and would watch other sporting events if he liked them but this one we enjoy together.
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I’ve only ever watched one baseball game and that was the Tampa Bay Rays v the Cardinals. The Cardinals won.
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We are a hockey household so no worries about the remote – most times!
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Good times 👍🏻
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This will date us, but we fight over the TV or computer for who gets to play his/her game.
We…um.. don’t watch sport. Erm, sports. Nor do we watch series. 😀
My husband did like “Breaking Bad” quite a lot.
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I’ve never fought anyone over a computer game. Ever. But there’s always a first time I suppose.
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You could fight someone IN a computer game, for starters.
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I don’t watch a lot of sports anymore, especially since the NFL players started kneeling during our national anthem. I haven’t watched a game since. I grew up playing and watching a lot of hockey (Chicago Blackhawks fans), so I like that sometimes. We don’t get to watch a lot of shows, but we like Netflix. My son and I watch “West Coast Customs” together. I have watched it for years. We are going to visit their new shop in Burbank when we visit California in July. My wife like’s “Destination Unknown” with Josh Gates. We also like “Finding Bigfoot.” “14 Minutes From Earth” was pretty cool. That Google Exec Alan is brave. By the way, “Go Ireland!” God bless!
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I’ve not watched any of those shows. They mustn’t have reached Ireland yet lol
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I am now living with one TV. Gave up the multiple TV’s in order to communicate more. Our children are grown adults in their own starting families. Problem is you can still not communicate with one TV. Like the laptop and such. We do to to watch our own programs and be fair to one another. He gets up rather early to exercise so he than has the TV early too. We both be fair. Butt I can use my laptop with my cordless headphones and watch something. But when something is live it’s another story. I get annoyed when he wants to play video games. Typical.
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Sounds a bit like our house 😂
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This is our house!!! We don’t argue over the remote control anymore…we each have one. But! I control the TV until about 8 – 8:30 pm. He gets it for the rest of the evening. He’s never wanted it on the weekends (I’m the sports nut).
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That sounds like a very mature and amicable arrangement 😊
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I love your post. Sounds like there’s a lot of love between the two of you and compromise. We only have one TV and my husband watches Star Trek and documentaries. Some history. I adore Grace and Frankie and One Day at a Time on Netflix. My kids together watch their favorite shows like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe. Plus hours of YouTube. 🤪You have me thinking that it would be nice to watch a family show again together. We used to watch Once Upon a Time as s family. My husband and I loved The Sopranos.
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Fionnuala and I watch shows together but it’s a rare sight to get everyone around the one screen. Thank you.
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Well, I am not currently married, but plan to marry in December of this year. However, I do not think that we will battle over the remote as I probably don’t even watch 1 hour of TV a week. Great writing and very interesting!
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Thank you very much. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.
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😂🙈😱
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No sports watched here…. at least not now… I like to watch some political shows. He likes sci-fi. We both love British shows… and police/detective shows. We manage. 🙂
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I’m allergic to politics. Sorry 😐
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Yes. Sports is probably healthier.
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My hubby and I do the second tv route. We have to, otherwise I would be subjected to mindless episodes of man fare. He watches anything that has to do with hunting, street racing, building cars, and rednecks: “Swamp People”, “Moonshiner’s”, etc. It got to the point when I would hear the background music start I would cringe. Having a second tv is a beautiful thing for marriage. Bonding is sometimes over-rated. Ha..Ha..
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Does he have a beard and wear lumberjack shirts? 😉
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I usually watch Netflix on my laptop when I want to watch something. My son plays video games on our tv, which is slowly dying a painful death. We won’t be replacing it once it goes. At present, I am binge watching Grey’s Anatomy, but I’m limiting myself to 2-3 episodes per day. If I didn’t require sleep, I would watch more, so I try to be careful.
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My husband is not into sports at all. But I got him to watch the World Cup because I invited my guy friend to come over to watch with me. Lol. After that first time, he will not miss watching a game with me. Most of the time we watch TV shows together. We tend to like the same TV programs, except sports ones!
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Why would he not let you watch the match with your male friend?
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This is a great post! And a happy system for you & your wife. The only sport we watch is NFL. I’ve been interested in Rugby but don’t have the slightest understanding of it. I don’t seem to come across it much on tv. Otherwise we try to compromise on Netflix programs. If we cannot we go to our separate rooms.
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I support the Redskins. NFL is big in the UK.
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I like the Redskins despite living in Patriot territory. Inevitably I see more of the Patriots, but to be honest – I just like a good game! Do you guys go all out with home superbowl parties?
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Some people do but it’s normally way past my bedtime. Plus the Redskins don’t play January football 😉
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😊
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With a young baby in the house, we don’t watch a lot of TV these days, but we share a lot of the same tastes, so it’s usually not a problem. And if there’s a stalemate, we retreat to our respective devices and watch what we want to watch.
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It all sounds very mature and civilised in your house. I’m most impressed 😊
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Ha! I am not a TV watcher so there is no battle. And I cannot tell you if I EVER binge watched anything. My daughter tried to get me to watch Marvelous Mrs Mazel, and while the episodes were good, and thoroughly enjoyable, I never finished. After she left and I was on my own, well, let’s just say it fell by the wayside.
Now lest you think I am completely out of touch, I do binge-listen to podcasts. When I was turned on to the RobCast by Rob Bell I listened to every episode. I am thinking it is time to do that again. I also go back and listen to the New York Times “The Daily” podcast if I miss one of them as well.
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We loved Mrs Maisel. Well worth sticking with 😊
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