Well, not only does my late grandma inspire the Helen Sipka Family Craft Exchange, but now she has, apparently, inspired a football pool.

My uncle used to run a pretty involved Fantasy Football League, with lots of Sipkas participating, but things got complicated over the years, and he got busy, and everyone else got busy, and the Fantasy Football League kind of fell by the wayside. …

(I should add, in the spirit of full disclosure, that I barely understood Fantasy Football play. And never played. But my MOM is totally into football, and my hubby and oldest son, so they’d all jump into the Fantasy Football leagues.)

Anyway, this year, we still didn’t do Fantasy Football, but my uncle wrote an email to everyone at the end of the season and said that he “got a message from Mom that we needed to do a Super Bowl pool that would make us think about ‘Respect’ more.”

So apparently Helen Sipka has inspired a respect football pool now — from Heaven!

My uncle put everyone’s name in a square for the playoffs – we all doubled up, actually, because Helen Sipka had a large family – and whoever won would earn “respect” from his/her immediate and extended family and would be addressed as “Miss” or “Mister” by all family members for one full year!

And guess who won????

Yep, Miss Laurie here, in the 49ers and Baltimore square. Along with my cousin, Miss Kathy.

Nathan and Rene haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet. … (My uncle noted that “Mrs. Mom” is also acceptable…)

Fun stuff if you’re still planning your own football pools. …