Just yesterday, I was listening to the Tim McGraw song Back When (yes I listen to a little country music) and it brought back some great memories growing up as a kid. I look at my children today and I truly feel sorry for them, because they will never have the freedom and yes fun that I had growing up in the 70s. Whether it was just playing whiffle ball or ring and run. We were free, our parents let us GO OUT AND PLAY. I used to love when the milkman came and drink the fresh milk, today my kids don’t even know what the milkman is or what whole milk taste like. I am not naïve to think that everything was great when I was a kid, the cold war was raging, hostages were in IRAN and we had long gas lines. However I was hopeful and I thought I could change the world. Now I am 48 and have two children 15 and 12 and I worry about them. I am not special most parents’ worry about their children. So yesterday I thought what are my kids going to remember in thirty years from now and I hope its Saturday’s in the Fall and the time we spent together watching College Football.
I know you thought this post was going to be all mushy and sappy, but its not! I am going to talk about the best annual sport on the Planet and that is FBS College Football. Yesterday was a tough day my Fighting Irish lost a close game last night on the last play of the game. I will admit it I didn’t sleep much last night because I was upset. As I lay in bed thinking about the game and what could have been, I remembered that Max and Luke were there with me watching pacing the floor on that last drive. I remember the joy we felt when we thought the Irish scored the winning touchdown with seconds left in the game and the disappointment when we saw the flag and knew the TD wasn’t going to count. Two more plays and the game was over and the Irish lost. We all went to bed disappointed.
Every Saturday from Labor through November I watch game after game with my boys. It doesn’t matter who is playing as long as there is college ball and we are together. Football just a game, the outcome and the results really don’t mean much in the course of our lives, but the game has bonded my family together for the past 10 + years and I have a lot of great memories of the game. Here are just a few in no particular order:
- Watching Max Play in his third Offensive-Defense Football Academy Youth All American Bowl in Cowboys Stadium
- Watch Lucas run 80 yards for a touchdown when he was six
- Trip down to Tampa with Max for his 10th birthday to watch the Buccaneers play the charges (of course the Bucs lost)
- Trip down to Baltimore with Lucas for his 10th birthday to watch the Ravens beat the Bengals
- Trip out to South Bend with Max to watch the Fighting Irish give Michigan State their only loss of the year
- Nearly 100 Saturday’s watching college ball with my boys eating KFC and Pizza while screaming, cheering, and crying at the TV.
So here is a shout out to Football and many other sports that still can bring families together and create happy memories in the midst of this crazy world we live in.