Q: How do I get my husband to tone down his sports obsession? There is not a single season that he is not glued to the TV.

A: He’s a man. He was a single man. And men are tribal. Separated from warrior activities by injuries and a couple of hundred years of civilisation, his sports team is now his tribe. He joins tribal council on Saturday afternoons. Before you came along, he had an intimate relationship with the couch and the remote.

While I’m sure you’re 100 times better (though he probably misses the mute button and the magic couch’s R5 coins), that was and is still part of his hard-wiring. If you try stop him now or organise your time together during prime sports viewing, he will not only start to resent it, but will probably try to sneak out of weddings, funerals and carpet-shopping adventures to find a TV.

Here’s where the golden art of compromise comes in handy. Buy a DVR for the days when there’s a scheduling conflict, but otherwise let him support his main team (yes, some guys cheat on their teams). Draw the line at an entire weekend watching obscure sides.

Another thing: try watching with him. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the one bellowing “PROOOBLEMS” when Province choke… again.