Desiree Holt | Football – My Drug of Choice

Everyone has something they obsess about, right? And of course for each person it’s something different. Movies. Television. Books, of course. Baseball. Whatever. For me? Football. Yup. You got it. My blood really gets pumping watching twenty-two sweaty bodies out on that field, the crowd screaming in the stands, the air filled with the excitement of the game. And that’s just from watching it on television!

There is something so exciting about seeing a perfectly thrown pass land in the hands of a receiver, or seeing a running back as he carries that ball into the end zone. I am always awed at the intricate game plans the teams execute, and the footwork that is as good as any choreography I’ve seen.

Other women salivate over the likes of George Clooney, Idris Alba, even (for my generation) Tony Bennett! But for me? It’s always been Joe Montana, former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. I remember a player who backed him up telling the media that Joe was the quintessential field general, so perfectly prepared every Sunday that he could go out on the field and at any given time change the call based on what he saw on the field.

Weekends in the fall you can find me glued to my television set every weekend. College games are the best, for me, because these guys are playing for the thrill of the game, rather than for enormous salaries. Then there is all the game-related activity: the cheerleaders, the pep squads, and of course the marching bands. I graduated from the University of Michigan which has without a doubt the best marching band in the country. For me one of the biggest thrills was watching the entrance to the tunnel where twenty minutes before game time the drum major would appear, the announcer would shout, “Ladies and gentlemen, your Michigan Marching Band," the band would take the field, and they would run out of the tunnel marching in triple time quickstep. They still do and watching them is still one of my greatest pleasures.

So come fall there I am glued to two television sets, overdosing on my drug of choice.

For forty-eight hours I watch these heroes of the game, awed by their athletic ability and thrilled at the way they respond to the crowd. I’m not sure any real drug could get my blood moving any faster or my heart pumping any harder.

I see these men out there so disciplined, so attuned to what they are doing, so conscious that they are part of a team and that with teamwork they can succeed. And then, of course, there are all those gorgeous muscles. Enough to make any woman’s heart beat faster.

But there are other reasons why I love football and football players. I write about strong heroes, and like any hero they are also flawed. They make mistakes. But that’s what makes them human, right? Their success is in the way they handle and rise above those flaws. I see that in the football players, when things on the field shift against them and they still come out winners.

One of them, who is always on my mind, is Pat Tillman, who was a safety for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. In May 2002, eight months after the September 11 attacks and after completing the fifteen remaining games of the 2001 season which followed the attacks (at a salary of $512,000 per year), Tillman turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Cardinals to enlist in the U. S. Army. He was killed in Afghanistan and the world mourned his loss.

Then there is J. J. Watt, defensive end for the Houston Texans. Despite being in the NFL only four years he is considered to be the best player in the league. He has established and funds a charitable foundation, run by his mother, that provides after school opportunities for children, in order for them to get involved in athletics in a safe environment.

So I see wonderful heroes in this sport, I see discipline, I see excitement, I see very sexy men who get my bloods pumping, and of course, what we pray for— the thrill of victory. The question is not why I chose to write about football, but why I waited so long.

About Desiree Holt

Known the world over as The Oldest Living Erotica Author, Desiree Holt proves every day that she is more than the sum of her years and more than the grandmother who plays with Barbie and Ken dolls: She is The Hardest Working Erotica Author, producing one novel or more each month and receiving rave reviews.

She is a winner of the EPIC E-Book Award, a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio as well as twice a CAPA Award for best BDSM book of the year, winner of the Holt Medallion, multiple winner of the Whipped Cream Book of the Week Award and is published by five different houses. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The London Daily Mail and numerous other national and international publications.

“Get out the ice water and fan…Desiree Holt delivers smoking hot alpha heroes and red hot romances.” Lea Franczak, USA Today Happy Ever After blog

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About FORWARD PASS

Get Ready to Play Rough

Shay Beckham grew up idolizing her brother’s best friend, star quarterback Joe Reilly. There was no one in their Texas town who had the moves to match Joe on or off the field. Years later, he’s still a player who has what it takes to drive any hot-blooded woman wild. But Shay isn’t a kid with a bad case of hero- worship anymore. She’s grown-up and independent, with her feet on the ground and a serious head on her shoulders. If she could just say the same for Joe.

It’s been fifteen years, but Joe Reilly hasn’t forgotten the skinny little kid who used to follow him around like a shadow. What he can’t get over is that the skinny shadow has grown into one hell of an incredible woman. One any man in his right mind would kill to get his hands on. And one who seems to be completely immune to him. He knows he and Shay could have something special together. If he could only convince her he’s about more than just the game.