THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Breaking my rule, but with some family permission

It hurts to break your own rule.

For more years than I can remember, it was no sports on Christmas.

No NFL, college games or NBA.

It’s a day for family, church, meals together, maybe holiday movies or music.

(Mike Patrick introduced me to “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” the hilarious Chevy Chase classic featuring the greatest screen character of all time, Cousin Eddie.)

Family and friends who can laugh together make life a whole lot nicer.

Anyway.

I broke my rule this year, but there should be an asterisk next to this one.

My stepson, Matthew, is a Kansas City Chiefs fan down to his soul, and they were playing Pittsburgh on Christmas.

In fact, it was the first-ever live NFL game on Netflix.

This one was a family decision, and my partner Melissa — not a football fan but KIND of tilting toward the Chiefs because of her son — approved rule-bending just this once.

So, I joined the telecast at halftime with the Chiefs up 16-10.

They went on to blitz the Steelers 29-10, sewing up the No. 1 seed in the AFC and earning the first-round playoff bye that goes with it.

MATTHEW was predictably pleased, even more so because his lady, Madi, shared a second Christmas with him.

He didn’t plan it this way, necessarily, but Madi happens to be an athlete who is also a Chiefs fan.

How lucky can a young lad get?

Did I mention she’s also gorgeous and fun?

Among other things, the Matthew-Madi romance gives us older folk more spring in our step — and more reason to smile.

As for the game, I’m hoping for a personal “no football” blackout on Christmas (or Thanksgiving) again next year.

It’s worth mentioning here that I’m a soccer junkie.

The real test for me would be if my beloved Arsenal of the English Premier League played on Christmas.

Thankfully, they haven’t done it for quite a few seasons now.

More likely would be a fixture (that’s a “game” in Brit-speak) on Boxing Day.

That’s today, the 26th.

In fact, there’s usually a pretty full slate of games all across Europe on Boxing Day, but this year Arsenal gets an extra (and needed) day off.

My heroes will host Ipswich Town on Friday night, which is 12:15 in the afternoon, Pacific time.

Handy, eh?

Quick note: It’s not so wonderful when Arsenal plays at noon in London, which is 4 a.m. in North Idaho.

If it’s in your Gooner soul, you do what you gotta do.

OK, back to Christmas.

The NBA has played marquee games forever, and I know lots of families who go to church, then have a meal and get stuffed on Steph Curry and LeBron James all afternoon.

I would never judge.

Besides, I watched the second half of Chiefs-Steelers this Christmas.

IRONICALLY, I was involved up close in one of the most famous Christmas Day games of all time.

I had barely started in this biz when I wound up on the sideline during the “Burned Turkey Game” — Miami at Kansas City, 1971.

In case you’ve forgotten the specifics, the Dolphins and Chiefs were locked up in an AFC divisional battle, and it went into overtime in the most stunning way.

Chiefs kicker Jan Stenerud, now in the Hall of Fame, missed a gimme 32-yard field goal at the end of regulation.

“I think about that kick every day and every night,” Stenerud has said for years afterward.

The game went into double overtime, and dragged on for 82 minutes, 40 seconds — when Miami’s Garo Yepremian blessedly hit a 37-yard field goal to end it.

Most players simply fell on the field in exhaustion.

Meanwhile, the game itself had plenty of repercussions.

For one thing, the young Dolphins came of age, going undefeated the following season and winning back-to-back Super Bowls.

There was other fallout, though.

The NFL was buried in calls and complaints because the game had gone well into the night, spoiling Christmas plans all over the country.

The league took notice, and didn’t schedule another game on Christmas until 1989.

It was hugely popular by then, however, and Christmas games became a regular fixture — as they had been in the NBA since 1947.

The NFL’s one caveat was that Christmas games had to fall on a weekend, a restriction that was dropped four years ago.

Now, there are games from morning ‘til night.

And I make sure to miss them.

Um, unless the family votes otherwise.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through

Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”