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Old 05-14-2012, 07:20 PM   #1
MikeWaters
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Default Watching baseball with your kid

I've watched more regular season MLB this year than perhaps the last 10 years combined. It's because the Rangers pulled me in during the last two postseasons. And then the Darvish signing.

Was watching some games with my daughter, and she's young and excited and learning the rules of the game as I explain them to her. You realize how silly some of the terminology is, takes a little kid to make you think of it.

This has been a ritual for a long time in America. Father teaches child about the rules of the game, and what it means to root for your team. As I thought about this in the last couple of days, made me think about my own life. My father never taught me much about anything in sports. He was not a fan. He didn't watch baseball, football, or basketball. Except for the odd BYU football game on TV. Neither was my mother. Somehow from these two people, sprung a kid (me), who actually liked watching and playing sports. My brothers followed in my parents' footsteps. They don't care about sports. But me, I was a big fan of the Cowboys (Danny White), the Braves on TBS (Dale Murphy), and the Houston Rockets. I watched BYU whenever I could, and A&M as well. In fact, this would often cause conflict in our household. One TV for most of my childhood, and no one else wanted to watch sports. In particular, my father didn't want me to watch the Cowboys because of the sabbath (I didn't listen). He thought watching the Braves all summer, in particular, was a huge waste of time.

What to make of this? Was my father right? Here we are on a sports forum. I still struggle with what the roles of sports should be in my life. I mainly debate whether I give it too much time. But compared to most, I'm not a hardcore fan. However, beyond all that, I'm giving my daughter an experience that I never had. A father teaching the game, and enjoying the game together. Giving each other high-fives and cheering. It's all in fun, and I think it's a good bonding thing. Maybe one day she will look back fondly at these times. When I am long gone.

Last edited by MikeWaters; 05-14-2012 at 07:49 PM.
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Old 05-14-2012, 07:56 PM   #2
MikeWaters
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Lest I am being unfair to my parents, I should add:

1. They enrolled me in all kinds of sports, even though they could barely afford it. Soccer, basketball, track, little league. They supported me. I don't take this lightly. My father delivered newspapers and my mom worked as a custodian, and they had every reason not to spend their money on sports for their kids. But they did.

2. Took me to two of three Houston Astros games when I got some free tickets.

3. Let me attend some of the A&M football games (when tickets were $3).

4. Took me to a number of A&M baseball games. They had their relief pitcher for A&M, he must have been Hawaiian, and when he would come out on the field, the PA system would blast the "Hawaii Five-O" theme. I thought that was awesome. So one evening I was with my family in a movie theatre on the A&M campus, and before the movie starts, I see this pitcher sitting with a bunch of guys. I tell my brother and my parent's "It's so-and-so." I got a piece of paper and a pen and walked over and asked for his autograph. He seemed to be tickled pink that a kid would want his autograph. A couple of the guys sitting with him, joked, "What, you don't want ours too?" I think he was actually there at the movies with his teammates. No sirs, I do not want your autographs. I want the autograph of Mr. Hawaii Five-O.

This was before A&M baseball became popular. A few years later, it became the in-thing for students and people to watch the A&M games, and the stands were often full. Attendance was very sparse when I went.
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