The Only Sport I Understand

It's quiet downstairs - that can only mean one thing.  The Celtics are losing.

 I don't get sports.  Not at all.  I can't play them (zero hand eye coordination and I'm slow) and I just don't understand them.  I mean - I only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials.  It's that bad.  The Woodsman, on the other hand, is a sports fanatic.  Apparently, just like vegetables, there is a team for every season.  Spring, I've been told, is for basketball.  See - and I thought you played baseball in the spring.  Hmm...

Over the years I've learned enough sports lingo to ask questions appropriate to the current sport.  I know that pass interference belongs with football, a rebound belongs with basketball and that trading involves more than giving someone your extra garlic in exchange for their extra beets.  But, that doesn't really mean that I get what's happening.  I try, I really try.  But as soon as I ask a sports question my brain becomes Charlie Brown at the library.  All I hear in response is "Wa, wa, wa, wa, wa wa."  I keep nodding my head and looking interested, but really I'm thinking - what in the world is he saying?  Do those words actually mean anything?  Are they even real words?

Ah... now the team must have had a come back.  Here are the comments I've heard traveling up the stairs in the past few minutes.

"Rebound!"  "That's it!"  "Yes!"    "Ah.."  "Miss!"  "(Clap, clap, clap)  Come on Defence!  Come on!"

Soccer Boy, as you might have guessed, is also a sports fanatic.  The sounds of a dad and his boy watching a game together are precious.  I have no idea what they're shouting about, but that doesn't make me enjoy hearing his tiny voice echoing his dad's voice any less. 

Soccer Boy is also very athletic.  One of my small fears is that as he grows older my inability to play and understand anything sporty will leave me out of part of his world.  For the moment I'm safe.  More than any other sport, Soccer Boy loves.... well, Soccer.

I love watching my boy play!

 This is good because it is the only team sport I ever played.  It is the only sport I ever liked.  It is the only sport in which I have even minor skill.  Which means, that it's the only sport I get.  I actually know what a corner kick is and how it differs from a goal kick.  If you tell me to play mid-field I know where to stand.  I know what it means to dribble and pass.  I know how to trap and kick.  I've even been known to leave the kitchen and the garden to play a game of one on one.  But, most importantly, it's a sport I can share with my son.  This season I helped out by coaching part of two games.  Coaching was fun, but having my son be excited that I was his coach for the day was even better. 

Let's just hope it stays this way!