by Tracy Hartman

Today’s post comes from someone who has always had a fresh perspective on manliness, all doing so without a Y Chromosome!! Our guest blogger for the mid-way point of Movember is a dear friend of The Bro Journey’s and our first repeat contributor, Tracy Hartman. Tracy is currently living in the Chicagoland area and working in downtown Chicago and writes a great blog, Today is My Favorite Day! On top of being a young working girl, Tracy is married to the man of her dreams and today she is sharing with us what its like to be a coach’s wife. Hopefully everyone will feel inspired to watch (or re-watch for the 12th time) Friday Night Lights for the rest of the day. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts y’all.

It is such a pleasure to be back here on The Bro Journey. I am a huge advocate for everything that Movember stands for and if I could grow a mustache, I would.

For the entire last week of October I tried to talk my husband, Dan, into growing a mustache. In six years I have seen him clean-shaven once, so I thought for sure he could rock an incredible mustache. But he refused, because growing a mustache would be different than what he has been doing with his facial hair for the entire football season and it might mess up his winning streak. It’s like those Bud Light commercials, “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.”

So, the man grows his beard out for the entire week, is scruffy on the sidelines while he is calling his plays, and then, after their victory, will shave. But this is coming from the man who wears the same pants every week on the sideline too no matter what condition theyre in. (Please do not bring up week two of the playoffs where I forgot to wash the lucky pants, thank goodness they won, or it would have been my head). And who, when called for a TV interview, decided he could not go get a haircut because it hasn’t been cut during this entire playoff run. We just trimmed up his neck and side burns… real good look, I know. But again, “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.”

And trust me, it’s been working. Dan and his team are making school history and are appearing in their first semifinal game ever, it’s been quite the ride.

Now for me, I always knew I would marry a football coach. I thought it would be a fabulous, glamorous life, you know, like you see on Friday Night Lights, but let me tell you, whoever writes for Tami Taylor’s character has never spent one day in the life of a football coach. It all starts in July with the practices, the sleep away camps, and the preparing. Any and all weekend plans go out the window from August until November. I mean you don’t even know what mood your husband is going to be in for the entire weekend until the final seconds of the game on Friday night.

There is the film watching and the play drawing. In the past months I’ve watched more high school football games on my television than “Real Housewives” and when watching the opponents I’ve been studying the past week on Friday nights, I can almost tell you what is going to happen or who they are going to hand the ball off to. I am probably one of the only ladies that can tell you that Will, Sam, and Mike are not cute, traditional names for your unborn children – they are used to identify the linebackers when the defense uses a 4-3 defensive scheme. You got a 3-4 scheme, just add Jack.

But I have to tell you, I love it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Do I sometimes wish I were out on the town instead of sitting in the bleachers doing defensive cheers wrapped in blankets? Of course I do, but those bleachers are still pretty wonderful. In high school Friday Nights were some of the best times and now I get to relive them, over and over. I love getting to know the kids and their parents. I love seeing how happy Dan is after a win and even though it sucks, I’ve learned to pick up the pieces after a loss. This has become our life, and it’s a pretty great one, not Tami Taylor’s but it’s up there.

So here’s to the Mustangs, and to Coach. I hope we can keep riding this ride for just nine more days. I can’t think of anything sweeter than drinking champagne in Champaign, Illinois as state champs.

And for the reason we are all here, let’s plan on donating one dollar for every point the Mustangs score this weekend, who is with me?

“Coach’s Corner is awesome”