The Joy of Football

Oct 7th, 2008 | By jeffpickett | Category: Advice

As a proud father, I continue to be amazed at the development of my children. I was worried for awhile, I must admit. Two years ago one of my daughters struggled to say “TOUCHDOWN!” on Sunday afternoons. Perhaps this was because I was expecting too much of her. Or perhaps it’s because I’m a Kansas City chiefs fan and we all know their offense doesn’t see the end zone too often. At least my Tigers know offense, so I’m having a good year so far.

My favorite Mizzou fan

OK – getting off the point. Back to my daughter.

This past weekend was a joy. Not only has she mastered the cries common with scoring in football, she is learning names of players, offensive schemes and the assistant coaches of the teams we watched. OK, so she knows some of the players names… (Sorry, the Bragging Daddy in me got carried away.)

Anyway, we were watching the Sunday night game, Steelers vs. Jaguars. There I lay, body on the floor, head resting against the foot of the couch. My 3 year old grabs her blanket comes over to me, lays on top of my legs, puts the blanket over both of us and kicks back watching with me. Dream come true. It really was. Until we got into a verbal altercation about the team names. She was convinced the Steelers were actually the Bears. Go figure.

I guess the point I’m making is this: involve your children in the things you enjoy as well. Us Dads quickly learn to appreciate what they like. It beats listening to unhappy cries, right? Well, just don’t forget to combine your joys and introduce them to each other. Daughters and football. Ain’t nothing better.

Got any good stories about your kids and sports?

When I’m not writing at DadOMatic or being a Dad, you can also catch me at my other hang-out.

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Tags: daughters, fathers, football, Kansas City Chiefs, Missouri Tigers, the joys of being a father

xadrian

i have to agree with theguth, i'm the only one in the house watching cycling, and soccer and hockey...and yes i live in texas.

theguth

Well, it turns out my two girls hate watching cycling on sundays as much as the rest of country does. I'm looking forward to the day when they'll appreciate the magic of a well led out sprint and vintage 10 speeds as much as I do, but I'm also ready to accept that the day will never come. alas.

JeffP

Don't give up on her XAdrian.

Don't force it, but try to make a game of it with her would be my advice. Buy her a hockey jersey, explain the rules simply, etc. I'm not a big hockey fan myself, but it's more fun when you understand a little of what's going on.

xadrian

I'm a big hockey fan, mostly the Avalanche, but hockey in general. My daughter was only a couple of months old when her mom and I had to go out to Houston to help my mother in law with her flooded house. It was during the playoffs but the Stars weren't in it and Houston was flooded so no local channel was carrying the game. (It was game 7 against the Devil's, Ray Borgue's final game.) So at the hotel room I started calling around to all the local bar and grills (bars and grill?) to see if anyone had it on satellite. One did so we scooped up my little girl in her car seat and went to watch the game. Before anyone calls CPS it wasn't a smoke filled bar, it was more like a small Bennigan's.) As the game went on, more and more people showed up and by the end of the game the place was full of mostly Avalanche fans, or at least fans cheering the Avs on. My little girl was dead asleep the entire time.

For a while she watched hockey with me, but now that she's 7 she always asks, "Why do you like watching sports so much?" I really didn't have an answer, but I get a little sad when she doesn't want to watch hockey.