Was Ditching My Then-Girlfriend At A Bar Over A Final Four Loss Justified?

There are some red lines that simply can't be crossed, and allowing someone to ruin sports is at the top of the list.

Due to a story this morning about finding out you're dating a "f*cking idiot," I found myself racking my brain for old stories. That's when I found myself pondering a much more serious question:

Is dumping a woman because she messes with your sports fandom acceptable?

Grab a beer, and let's dive right into a topic that I'm sure will have my email (David.Hookstead@outkick.com) blowing up. Just remember that chaos is a ladder.

Don't let a significant other ruin sports for you

Now, I'm sure a lot of women are reading this as well, and feel free to apply this to your boyfriends. I'm a dude, and I like women. So, I can only speak from that perspective, but the logic of this situation cuts both ways.

Prior to even starting writing on this idea, I had to gauge how people were feeling about the idea online. There is *OVERWHELMING* support for hitting the eject button if your girlfriend becomes a roadblock to enjoying your sports fandom.

There were also some people who suggested it wouldn't be okay to end a relationship over nagging and stopping sports viewing.

OutKick's great Joe Kinsey wanted to more or less split everything down the middle. Respectable for sure, but I do disagree.

Now, I want to make clear that I have a saint of a girlfriend, and there's no chance in hell she would ever do anything to interrupt me while I am watching the Wisconsin Badgers and Detroit Lions. She respects my commitment to the game, and for that alone, she's a keeper.

However, that's not always been the case for me or all the other guys out there reading OutKick who have had to deal with a girlfriend who simply doesn't get it.

We only get so many Saturdays and Sundays to enjoy football in our lives. There is a finite number of seasons you'll get to experience before being lowered into the ground, and I'm not missing any of it. You want to get dinner when Wisconsin is playing under the lights against Ohio State? Take my credit card and go wild, but you'll need a SWAT team to pull me away from the TV. The Jaws of Life won't be able to get me off the couch or out of the bar with the boys.

I think it's important to set expectations early in a relationship. Let her know that Saturdays and Sundays from week one through the championships are blocked off. The mornings can, of course, be fair game as there isn't much going on before noon. Plan for big events way in advance, and stick to the plan. If your girlfriend wants to pull an audible, then she just needs to know she's doing it without you. It's the same idea behind never having a wedding during football season. It just can't be tolerated.

The infamous 2014 girlfriend incident on the night of the Final Four

That leads me to a story that I've never once shared publicly, but I think enough time has passed that we might as well all chuckle about it together.

It was the night of April 5, 2014. The day leading up to the primetime Final Four matchup was full of cold beer, throwing the football around in the front yard with my college roommates and friends and convincing ourselves Wisconsin was definitely going to the national title game.

My girlfriend was over, my roommates had a bunch of women over and the vibes were high. The beer was flowing, music was blasting and it was euphoric. We even crushed a case race prior to the game. I couldn't have been having more fun.

Of course, that all came crashing down in unbelievable fashion when Kentucky hit a late shot to win 74-73. My heart had been shattered.

My roommates and buddies are all on their way to a local bar after torching a poster, getting in a fight and one was passed out cold on the floor.

My girlfriend - who was a sweet young lady - somehow convinced me to go to a different bar to meet up with her friends. It was such a disaster unfolding right in front of my eyes with my friends and roommates that at that moment, I thought going with her was wise.

The bar we ended up at was Chasers in Madison. A very fun establishment, but as soon as we showed up, I knew I'd made a terrible mistake. I was emotionally destroyed and shocked, and her idiot friends (that's my nice way of describing them) wouldn't stop talking about the dumbest things imaginable. I was going crazy, and that's when I was told by my then-girlfriend to just cheer up because it's only sports! Who really cares?

And just like that, we were off to the races. It felt like autopilot had taken over. I was no longer in control. My subconscious was and was going to do anything necessary to get me out of that hellhole and back to the boys.

I stood up, told her and all her friends in no uncertain terms that they just didn't get it and I started walking out. That's when my girlfriend hit me with some variation of "Are you really leaving me and my friends?"

I told her, "You can stay or you can come, but I'm out of here."…….and that's exactly what happened. I put one foot in front of another and walked right to where my buddies were at. As soon as I stepped inside the bar with them, it felt like the healing had already begun. Yes, it had the vibe of a funeral, but I knew the grieving cycle was underway.

As I've told every woman I've ever met, don't ever make me choose between the Badgers or a relationship because you won't like how it ends.

So, am I the villain? Did my then-girlfriend, who I broke up with a month later, not caring one bit about my depression justify me leaving? I have zero regrets and would do it again in a heartbeat. I'm not saying it makes me a hero, but I'll defend the decision to this day and further. That's how much big sports moments mean to me, and the fact you're an OutKick reader means you probably agree. Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com!

P.S.: I walked into my place that night to see a woman I'd never met before completely naked in my kitchen without a care in the world, and she just chose to lounge around for the next hour without putting on a shred of clothing. Final Four losses really do spark some strange behavior!

P.S.S.: Someday, I'll tell the story of what happened the night Wisconsin beat Kentucky in 2015 when I have enough money to never work again……because that story  - while epic - is probably going to be an issue. Stay tuned!