An Unlikely Language

My grandpa speaks Vietnamese and no word of English.

His day consists of moseying around his backyard, observing his garden patch and then checking if his lawn needs to be mowed or if his plants need to be watered. Then he watches a little bit of TV, eats when my grandma makes him food, talks only when he needs to, prays every night, and repeats the same daily routine day in and day out.

But his daily routine always changes from late August to early February. Instead, he makes time in his schedule to fit in every football game on TV from ESPN to FOX.

Having been raised in Vietnam his whole life and arriving to the United States in the 1970’s due to the Vietnam War, my grandpa knew nothing about football until he saw it for the first time live on TV, while living in San Francisco.

It was love at first sight.

After years of watching football, he can recite and act out every penalty followed with its respective hand motions before the referee even makes the announcement. He even added a few words to his English vocabulary with “touchdown,” “first down,” and “fumble”—not bad for someone who never spoke a word of English and could still understand the intricacies of a foreign sport better than the average viewer. But beyond understanding the basics and strategies of football, it has always been a second language for my grandpa, allowing him to express himself freely without being so quiet at times in his old age.

Even though I am barely fluent in Vietnamese, the microcosm of sports television—the culture and language embedded within football—has created a means of communication between me and my grandfather.  

On one occasion, during a 49er game, when head coach Mike Nolan decided to punt on 4^th and short from an opponent’s 40 yard line, my grandpa vehemently opposed his decision and told me that he would have went for it on 4^th and short. He threw his hands in the air abruptly, making a brazen claim that he would have been better fit for head coach because they would win more games under his aggressive play calls. He spoke in Vietnamese, which I find difficult to comprehend sometimes. Regardless of my poor understanding of the language, I was able to take a glimpse into his personality; one that never settles for less and would always achieves that goal through aggressive measures.

Personalities are revealed from the styles of play and even when it comes to play calling. In the NFL, football isn’t really about who is stronger or faster, but merely a mental battle between two fiery head coaches who devise the better game plan to thwart the other’s strategy. Amid the X’s and O’s of just offensive and defensive plays, there exists a language between two head coaches. On one hand, you have a coach calling passive dive plays to prompt the other coach to resort to aggressive defensive play callings with blitz packages. Once that coach realizes that the latter has changed his style of play, then it is time to throw in the play-action—a play that involves faking a run and then passing. In this simple scenario, messages are sent back and forth between two head coaches, that if one is becoming aggressive, then the other will bait him in and ultimately lead him to his own undoing.

That same kind of language is translated into the relationship between my unilingual grandpa and me. It is one where I can actually understand where my grandpa is coming from and the kind of person that he is without having to engage in the normal conversation. Our conversations involve yelling at a TV and criticizing plays in my broken Vietnamese language. This is what happens when we’ve both been watching football for too long, where it isn’t about who scores but how the other team can win.  

Even though we don’t relate on most aspects of life—let alone talk on a daily basis—watching and talking about football brings us together. These conversations allow me to learn about his past aspirations of being a football player, his personality, and his crude sense of humor. Besides yelling at the TV, he would make small comments about a certain player if he was putting on an atrocious performance: “The man is better off making some food for his wife tonight after the way he is playing— but he’d be lucky if she actually lets him in the door!” And you would bet that comment would show up at least once or twice minimum if he was in a good mood.

He is able to express himself through the unique language of football— from frustrations to excitement. Every day is nothing more than a monotonous daily routine for him. Watching football is an outlet for him to release his emotions and frustrations brought on in his daily life as an 80-some-odd year old man. That is what he hoped for at this stage in his life to begin with—to experience highs and lows to keep matters interesting.

My grandpa uses this football language to express his own feelings without being perceived as acting out of the norm.  He is often reserved and quiet around the house so when football comes around, it really is a way for him to express himself. Joking around with a friend and engaging in the informal “trash-talk” is prevalent in many aspects of football to keep that competitive spirit alive and the sport interesting. For the most part, most athletes can attest to this in one form or another and it doesn’t necessarily have to be outwardly talking that “trash.” My grandpa would always make fun of a running back’s timid style when hitting the hole and how he’d just dance around at the line of scrimmage waiting for something to happen. He jokingly claims that he himself could have ran better than that running back—of course, had it not been those arthritis in his joints. Some people prefer to act on their own basest emotions at some point and although perceived as improper in public, watching football allows my grandpa to revisit his innermost juvenile feelings again. Whether it is the usual innocuous trash-talking, the language of football can be expressed in so many different ways.

Beyond those daily routines, there is always something to look forward to come football season. He doesn’t have too many expectations because he is one of those men who can say, “Been there, done that.” In football and sports in general, there is invariably something to prove on Sundays. The team that he is rooting for come game day makes him feel that he has something left to prove to the opposing team. This lights the fire in his eyes all over again. Then the football language that encompasses trash talk mixed with humor, what-ifs, suspense, excitement and defeats that both my grandpa and I use to engage in our conversations begin all over again.

Even now, I do not feel I have come to a full understanding of who he is as a person. But every time the clock hits around 1 p.m. on Sundays during football season, there is something more to learn from him. Language in its most complex form can present itself in so many ways in football. And one can only wonder how some kind of communication exists between two different parties watching a sport where relentless men big as mammoths deliver bone-crushing hits.