Game Seven
It is one of the sacred days on any sports fan's calendar. Game Seven. Winner plays on. Loser goes home.
At my house, I know this conversation is going to happen. It starts with a small pleading voice. Dad, it pleads. It game seven. Piston's Heat. We gonna kill Shaq. Please can I watch the game. Just the first half, or a few minutes. Dad, its game seven.
We both know there may not be a tomorrow for this basketball team. We know the importance of this night. We have celebrated championships and stanley cups together, my son and I.
We even watched game five of the 84 world series together one night at 2 am when he was a baby and his mother was out of town and the Tigers were going to beat the Padres 8-4 on a perfect October night on ESPN classic.
He knows if he get permission to watch five minutes, he won't stand up for three hours. Except to leap in the air at another Wallace block and Chauncey three pointer.
His mother and I both know that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that he can learn in school tomorrow that can rival the winnner take all lesson he will learn on TV tonight. Watching desperate men struggle through pain and injury and emotion to reach their dreams.
Can he stay up tonight? He doesn't know it yet, but absolutely. We couldn't have it any other way.
At my house, I know this conversation is going to happen. It starts with a small pleading voice. Dad, it pleads. It game seven. Piston's Heat. We gonna kill Shaq. Please can I watch the game. Just the first half, or a few minutes. Dad, its game seven.
We both know there may not be a tomorrow for this basketball team. We know the importance of this night. We have celebrated championships and stanley cups together, my son and I.
We even watched game five of the 84 world series together one night at 2 am when he was a baby and his mother was out of town and the Tigers were going to beat the Padres 8-4 on a perfect October night on ESPN classic.
He knows if he get permission to watch five minutes, he won't stand up for three hours. Except to leap in the air at another Wallace block and Chauncey three pointer.
His mother and I both know that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that he can learn in school tomorrow that can rival the winnner take all lesson he will learn on TV tonight. Watching desperate men struggle through pain and injury and emotion to reach their dreams.
Can he stay up tonight? He doesn't know it yet, but absolutely. We couldn't have it any other way.
posted by Air Time at 7:58 PM
14 Comments:
We go through this every night with my boys. Though i'm not sure what they're learning from the Yankees these days, except maybe how to muck up a perfectly good season.
maybe you should have them drop out of school to learn the important life lessons of goyim chasing after a ball since its all they know how to do, and how truly pointless and fruitless it is.
goyim.
I knew you were going to let him stay up till half-time. But was it necessary to call him down to "get you some peanuts"? Now he's going to be up till tomorrow. You the kind of Dad we talk about in the teacher's lounge. Then again, would he ever go to sleep until it's over anyway? Probably not!
It's important to have a son who will get out of bed to get his dad peanuts during the game.
Annonymous-
Wouldn't you rather your child learn the lessons of giving 100% to get what you want. There is value a winner take all playoff game, and you don't even have to look very far to find it.
Things like grace and determination and, particularly in my sons case, understanding that even though 99% of the time you don't have to apply very much effort to get through your day to day life, when there is something that you really want, you need to push yourself and lay it all on the line.
I'm not really sure what he is going to learn in school today, but I am certain that with three days left until vacation, it will be Education Lite.
air -- couldn't your son learn all those things, with an appropriate goal to boot?
you're such a great dad..what was the peanut story?
he could, but he loves sports, loves watching games, and you educate each kid according to their own strengths (I know there is a hebrew phrase for that, I just can't remember it right now.)
When your kid loves sports, you couch your lessons in sports terminology.
Example - He was resistent to our planned Aliyah. But when I drew parallels for him between living in Israel vs learning about Israel and watching the Super Bowl vs going to the game, it clicked for him.
Peanut Story - I wanted to let him watch the game. His mother wanted him to go to bed at half time. I called him downstairs as the third quarter was getting started to get me peanuts from the kitchen, and then I asked him to pick up some toys from the living room, and then I just let him stay up and watch the rest of the game
way to stick it to the man (or woman in this case)
ah, air -- there's the rub. why would you expose the young innocent to pointless sports to begin with?
Anon, are you a girl?
Air, great analogy with wathcing the superbowl or going and learning about Israel and being there.
This is very interesting site... » »
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