Scrapbooking is one of those hobbies that have been around for decades, but like most niches it has become increasingly popular thanks to desktop publishing, digital cameras and the internet as a whole. My wife Patty and I know of several people who are involved in this hobby, but we are not one of them. Sure we save stuff that the kids have collected or earned over the years such as report cards, artwork, trophies and ribbons and several hundred pictures (the majority of which are on the external hard drive), however having a giant memory book to pull out on Prom Night to embarrass the kids and scare the hell out of Patrick’s (8) or Erin’s (6) date is not in our agenda.

But a few years ago I thought of something cool and something that Patrick can take out and show to his friends from now up until he becomes a dad and beyond – a Sports Ticket Scrap Book. The idea started just after college when I went to meet a friend of mine at a bar in Highland, Indiana. The bar itself, was inlaid with hundreds of used ticket stubs and had been lacquered over ( I’m sure this wasn’t the first bar to do so, nor will it be the last). That bar and project have always stuck with me and so when I brought Patrick to his fist Detroit Tigers game I kept his ticket. As much as I would have loved to have lacquered over my own bar in the basement (I had a really nice one in my last house), I didn’t think Patty would go for it. So I went to the book store and bought a large leather bound blank page journal. I glued the ticket stub on the page and my scrapbook had begun. However there was an abundance of white space; the book was too large. I then had one of those Wile E. Coyote moments and came up with an ingénues plan. I grabbed the previous day’s sports section and cut out the box score.

So now, when you look at the ticket you can find out what exactly happened in the game. I’ve expanded the idea to include hand written news and notes such as who attended the game with us, what the weather was like, birthdays or important headlines and I’ve even inserted pictures. I do this for all sporting events and I’ve even added a few of my own important and special stubs and scores in which I attended without Patrick, such as the 2006 All-Star Game at Comerica Park. All-in-all it’s a great way to remember times with your son or daughter, too.