MONTCLARION: Sept 27, 2012

If football is a religion, then my husband has racked up more church time than the Pope.

So what do you give a man like this on your 24th wedding anniversary? You acquiesce to a new endeavor and become co-owner of an ESPN Fantasy Football team.

Our marriage has never been stronger. Instead of long walks with girlfriends, I spend Sunday afternoons on the couch with my husband, screaming for our team — Teebow Steaks. We have a common goal, now — to squash our opponents and take home the cash prize at the end of the season.

Never mind that we’re up against our daughter’s team, Grilled Brees Sandwich, and our son’s franchise — Favre Dollar Footlong. We root with reckless abandon until the final tallies are in, then we map out the next week’s games.

Fantasy football has brought us together in a new and boisterous way. I just hope the neighbors don’t call the police.

AROUND TOWN: Better late than never — both lanes of Park Boulevard are open, again, after the much-delayed retrofit project wrapped up last week. City engineer Danny Lau thanks us for our patience and says there’ll only be “brief rolling lane closures” as they seal the cracks in the asphalt pavement.

On a tastier note: Farmstead Cheeses and Wines is hosting a benefit for Redwood Heights Elementary School at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10. Winemakers Chris and Andrea Mullineax will pour their award-winning South African wines at theMontclair shop while Redwood Heights parents serve snacks. Farmstead has donated almost $5,000 to local schools so far this year and tickets to this event will go fast at $25.

EMAIL BAG: Several readers have been surprised to learn about the Montclair Railroad Trail linking Montclair Village to Shepherd Canyon Road. And while it’s true it’s a bike trail, reader Dana Barnett points out that it’s also a “moving linear community of walkers, joggers and well mannered dogs.” You can access the trail behind McCaulou’s or at several spots along lower Shepherd Canyon Road.

TV time: Three Montclair homes are competing in an upcoming episode of HGTV’s “House Hunters.” Coldwell Banker broker Laurel Strand handled two of the listings and says we’ll have to tune in on Nov. 3 to learn the winner.

“The buyers are from San Francisco, and we’re looking for a home with San Francisco Bay views, great layout, upgraded chef’s kitchen and entertainment-oriented areas,” she says. The homes are on Holyrood, Snake and Skyline and on Glen Oaks.