Fan Boy

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but last Sunday a bunch of dudes in something called the NFL had a big event. Now, we're not much for sports watchin' in the Murawski family, at least not as a family. I tend to Tivo any sports events I want to see and watch them late at night when everybody else has gone to bed. This consists of some pro football games and a slew of college basketball games. Confession: I fast-forward through most of the action.

Wendy wanted to watch the Super Bowl together, though, so my Tivo routine wasn't going to do. Given the length of the average NFL game (approx. 12 hours) added to the pageantry of the Super Bowl (add. approx. 7.5 hours), we figured Kiernan was going to make this difficult. So Wendy had the idea of giving him a new Lego set to put together while we watched the game. Or rather while I watched the game and Wendy read her book until it was time to watch commercials. This turned out to be a smashing idea. He was ecstatic upon getting his new Lego set, and fitting together the three-hundred plus pieces kept him busy for most of the game.

Something unexpected happened though. He got into the game.

This happened in bits and pieces. Dribs and drabs. It kind of snuck up on me. At the beginning, Kiernan asked who I was rooting for, and he was surprised to find out that I wasn't rooting for the guys with my favorite color uniforms: green. Whenever he sees sports on tv, be it a game or just a Sports Center clip, he will ask who I want to win because invariably his allegiance will be with the team wearing his favorite color, red. That's the extent of it. So the fact that I was rooting for the Steelers was confusing to him, but he accepted it.

As the game went on and he concentrated on his Lego set, he would ask questions about our reactions. At one point I reacted strongly to a key fumble--don't worry, my reaction was totally 'G' rated--and we explained that to him. At another point I reacted favorably to a sack of Aaron Rodgers. Kiernan asked about that and I dashed off an explanation; Wendy helpfully paused the game and explained the concept of the quarterback sack to him. Again, he accepted it.

As the game drew to a close Wendy prepared him for bed, asking me to pause the game with a few seconds left, so the two of them could see the very end with me before bedtime.  With about fifty seconds left it was clear the game was over, so I paused it and had the two of them join me. I explained how this fourth down pass play, if unsuccessful, would mean the end of the game. Then we watched it.

I'm not a rabid fan, by any means, but sometimes when my team loses I get sad. It happens. I might carry it around for a day or so. No big deal. Well, when that fourth down pass play failed, I looked over at my son and saw that he was crushed. Crushed! This meaningless thing. This event where I wasn't even rooting for the right color uniforms. And there he was, shoulders slumped, brow furrowed, lip quivering.

Maybe part of this was due to the fact that it was well past his usual bedtime. I don't know. But I was shocked at how quickly he had established an emotional connection with the fortunes of a team just a few scant hours before he couldn't have cared less about. For me, this was perfect. I had a hard time rooting for the Steelers this year. It always felt uncomfortable. Oogy. But still, I wanted them to win. I would've felt sad. Instead of that, however, I found myself immediately channeling my energy and emotions into bucking up my newest little fan.

"It's okay. The Packers played better today. That happens." This was true. Clearly. Though cold comfort.

I forget what else we said to him, but it was variations on that theme. Lessons on sportsmanship and whatnot. It was nice, because it totally distracted me from  my own misplaced fan emotions and focused me on my son and his new feelings. Kind of cool.

I'm still knocked out by how easily a fan was created on this day. Wow.

[NOTE: The above picture was taken by the father of Ryan, one of Kiernan's friends, at the birthday party of Aidan, another of Kiernan's friends. As you can see, the dude--his name is Andrew--can take a picture.]