As a girl that grew up in the south, I live for Saturdays and Sundays during football season. I get to watch my Gamecocks on Saturday and my Panthers on Sunday. I yell at the TV like the players and coaches can hear me. I get mad when things are planned during game time. I am a diehard fan but there are some struggles that go along with that kind of dedication.

1. The amount of Panthers and Gamecocks attire I own is insane.

I am not exaggerating when I say that my football shirts have their own section in my closet. I have four Panthers and two Gamecock jerseys, a combined total of seven long sleeve team shirts, six sleeveless shirts, and I don’t even know how many t-shirts I have. I might have a little bit of a problem but I am okay with that and will probably buy more before this season is over.

2. My love for football tends to cause me to seem like one of the guys.

You have to love the friend zone. It is a place that I am very familiar with. The love that I have for the game is often rewarded with being “one of the guys”. It seems like as soon as a guy sees a girl that actually knows football and doesn’t just act like it, she is automatically seen as one of the guys and is off the market. People say that some guys find it attractive (if you find a guy like that send him my way) but I haven’t found one yet. I’ve even been family zoned because of my love for sports. Family zoned is like being friend zoned but instead they say you’re like a sister or cousin in my case. So much fun.

3. Guys assume you don’t know anything about football other than who the cute players are.

They’re right about one thing, I am very aware of who the attractive players are *cough, cough* Luke Kuechly. I was in the car with one of my best friends, Kevin, and I started talking about the Panthers and he said, “I bet you can’t even name five players on the team other than Luke Kuechly and Greg Olsen.” I proceeded to name off a handful of players which shut him up real quick. Girls aren’t supposed to know about sports. They’re just supposed to sit in the corner quietly and look pretty. That is not me. I want to be front and center watching the game if I’m not able to actually attend the game.

4. When you see other girls conforming to the stereotype.

We all know those girls that ruin it for us. They act like they like a certain team to get a guy’s attention or they play dumb so that the guy can tell them what is happening in the game. These girls are why people think we don’t and can’t know anything about football. So girls, do us all a favor and sit quietly in the corner and look pretty so you don’t interrupt our game.

5. You take the game personally.

Every game is a serious matter. If the Panthers win, I win. If the Panthers lose, well let’s just say my day is ruined. All I want to do after a loss is to march right over to the stadium and tell them everything they did wrong. I should really be hired on as one of the coaches. But wait, girls aren’t supposed to know anything about football right?

When you are a fan of the game, you are part of the team. When you walk into Bank of America Stadium or Williams Brice you feel like you’re home. After the Super Bowl, I feel empty. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with all of this extra time now that I don’t have anything to revolve my Saturdays and Sundays around. I feel like sometimes girls that are fans of a team are more passionate about it than guys. So who’re the real fans here? Go Cocks and Keep Pounding!