Monday, November 16, 2009

Story of My Life

Over the weekend my wife and I joined some friends for a day of tailgating when the Buckeyes played Iowa. I'm glad the Buckeyes won, but the game shouldn't have been so close. That's all I'm going to say about it. I'm not going to go into a long-winded post-game summary, because I have a different story to tell. And besides, I'm about as qualified to talk about football as a penguin is to talk about flying.

Our kids stayed at our friends' house and played with their kids all day (NOTE: No need to involve CPS. Put down the phone. There was a well compensated babysitter on site). While we adults were watching a real football game, the kids were playing one of their own.

My son doesn't have a helmet, but his friend does. My son got to wear the helmet for part of their front-yard game of tackle football. Until they knocked heads. My son didn't feel a thing. His friend realized that the helmet does not offer bidirectional protection. In a brief moment of fair play, they agreed neither would wear the helmet. It was the best play of the day. (NOTE: Awww.)

My son was also enthralled with shoulder pads. They just jumped to the top of his Christmas list. He likes how "they make the muscles of your arm look so big." They are what all of his SuperIronSpider-MorphinBat-PowerMan costumes dream about being.

"There are third graders who play tackle football with pads. Can you believe it?" he asked me.

"Sure, why?" I asked.

"That's crazy! They could get hurt, playing tackle for real, and they're only in third grade."

"You played tackle the other day and you're only in second grade."

"I mean, I might want to do it...but it's still crazy!"

Story of my life.

Coming up next week: The Time I Jumped out of a Perfectly Good Airplane

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Nothing like a good head butt to start the day.

Formerly known as Frau said...

He sounds so rational...it's crazy there only in third grade Dad! Too funny!

Laura Martone said...

If only my cat and I had such enlightening conversations. All she does is bite, sleep, cuddle, eat, poop, and repeat.

Rick Daley said...

Alex- Does this mean I'm headed for trouble when he's a teen-ager and we start butting heads for real?

Frau- He's a very serious little kid (most of the time). That's why it was such a big deal when he set off the neighbor's alarmhe set off the neighbor's alarm.

Laura- We used to have a very conversational Siamese cat, but he never said anything enlightening.

Sharon said...

I love it!! Max is really turning into Mr. All Sports!!! Usually their first few years of football most of the kids are the same size. Its about 5th grade when you notice the mammoth beasts up against your twiggy kiddo...then you really start worrying about injuries!
Can we send the uniform for xmas?? That would be fun to shop for, except it will probably be a Dallas Cowboys one, and he might get hurt in Ohio wearing that?

Unknown said...

My 5-year-old is obsessed with football and all he wanted from Santa last year was a real Kansas City Chiefs football uniform (my hubby's from there so we're KC fans despite how sad that means we are during football season). So he got the helmet, shoulder pads, etc and wore it all the time and played his first season of organized flag football.

So I ask what he wants from Santa this year and he says he wants a different uniform. I ask what team and he says, "Oh, you know, a team that actually wins." Ouch!

Laura Martone said...

Aw, Kristi, that's so cute! Get him a Saints uniform. I hear they're doing pretty well this season. Wink, wink.

Rick Daley said...

Kristi- Can't blame him. Winning isn't everything, but it beats the hell out of losing.

Stacy McKitrick said...

This reminds me of the time I watched my then teenage son palm a football with his hand and throw it through the hanging tire to win a prize at Kings Island.

When I asked him if he ever thought about being a quarterback playing football, he looked at me and asked "Do I look stupid?"

dolorah said...

Sorry, not a football fan. Bunch of grown men acting like little boys playing dog pile with sophisticated rules no-one but them really understand.

I'm more interested in the "time I jumped out of a perfectly good plane" story.

Nice to see your boys are growing up with healthy, normal, survivalist instincts. Stupid by manly works for me. I'm sure it does for all their little girlfriends too.

Poor Daddy; what growing up issues does this bring up for you Rick? Have you heard Chris Cagle's "Cuz The Chicks Dig It"? Maybe you should u-tube it; get acquainted with what your future holds with this one.

.........dhole

Rick Daley said...

Donna- I love to play football, I just lack to patience to watch a lot of it on TV. My attention span is too short, there's too much inaction between plays and I lose focus.

That was a funny song. I'll ask my dad how he coped, I'm sure there will be parallels I can learn from!

Anita said...

You know what's really cool? Our daughter is finally old enough to be our "well-compensated babysitter." The arrangement makes life sooo much easier.

Your kids are adorable.

dolorah said...

You have been nominated for the Humane Award on my blog. Stop by any time and pick it up.

......dhole

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