Are you ready for some football?

CCWF residents certainly are

Over the years, the National Football League (NFL) has grown exponentially and blossomed into what we can watch today. The NFL not only generates an extreme amount of revenue, but it also builds community in the unlikeliest places, one of which is Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF).

Sept. 4, 2025, marked the first day of the regular football season. You could feel the excitement in the common area as 10-15 residents gathered around a mounted 60” flat screen television, awaiting kickoff.

My best friend, Alicia Nolan, introduced me to football 13 years ago. I didn’t know anything about the sport, but it was the time that we spent together that encouraged me to want to learn more about the game. We would make food, have snacks, and drink coffee. This interaction is what I associate with football.

We started off following different teams, but now we share the love of the same team: the San Fransico 49ers. She has since paroled but we still talk about football on the weekends when I call her. Even without her beside me, watching football with a group of people ignites the flame that was once only a spark.

CCWF resident Adriana Vasco has been a faithful football watcher since 2002. When she was in county jail, the officers controlled what was viewed. She had no choice but to watch football.

Watching other women sitting together, sharing meals and screaming at the television, Vasco’s interest piqued. The more she learned, the more exciting it became for her.

In Building 512’s dayroom, her cheers of joy filled the space when her team, the Las Vegas Raiders, made their first touchdown of the season.

Vasco grew up close to the stadium where the Raiders used to play their home games and reminisced about how Raiders fans were dressed as well as their faithfulness to their team before she knew what football really was. Now, it’s something she always looks forward to.

“The closer it gets to football season, the joy naturally comes,” Vasco said.

CCWF resident Susan Clevenger also has a personal connection to the Raiders. Derek Carr, the former Raiders quarterback, is from Clevenger’s hometown. Following him was a connection to where she grew up.

She taught herself the rules by watching and is now more involved. Clevenger loves watching football with her peers and sharing trash talk, and just being around other football fans makes things more fun.

“Football is so exciting to me,” said Clevenger. “People you don’t know come out to watch regardless of the team that they support.”

My next-door neighbor, resident Macayla White, happens to be a Kansas City Chiefs fan, and I had no idea that she liked football until she started coming out and watching the games with us.

Growing up, her mom was a Joe Montana and 49ers fan, so that is who she watched. She, like Clevenger, taught herself the rules by watching the game and came to enjoy how Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce worked together and the level of sportsmanship they exhibited. She said that it is more fun watching it on the big screen with other fans.

Even in prison, everyone has a game day ritual.

For Vasco, a football Sunday consists of setting up the dayroom television so that all the football channels come in and packing a tote bag with things like snacks, crochet projects, schoolbooks, and her tablet. These things must be done before the pre-game show starts, so that she does not miss anything. This is something that she has done for the past eight years.

Clevenger makes sure that her lunch is ready — usually nachos — before the first game starts. She follows the players as well, so paying attention is important.

CCWF resident My Nguyen shared that she will not actively watch the team she wants to win, unless it is her team, the 49ers; however, she will do score check-ins.

Though their rituals may be new, White said that watching football creates a sense of normalcy.

“It’s almost like you are there in the stadium, the cheers or the boos can be heard right along with the individuals who are physically at the game,” White said. “Watching the games allows us to mentally take ourselves away from our current situations if only for a moment, and for some, it is the reset that they need to prepare for the week ahead.”

For those of you who do not watch football, Vasco has these words to share: “Give it a try, it builds excitement, and you may find connections that you did not have before.”