I’ve written about the misery of being a Chicago sports fan before, but Super Sunday seems like the perfect time to revisit the topic–just in time for America’s number one secular holiday.
I want my son to grow up a football fan. I don’t necessarily want him to play, but it is an absolutely thrilling sport to watch, and one that you can garner a lot of enjoyment from.
That being said, how in the #^$%#^%$ do you interest a young toddler in a game your home team likely won’t be a part of for a long, long time? How do you even attempt this as a responsible parent? Won’t you be inflicting years of heartbreak and disappointment? Wouldn’t Chicago baseball be a…um…nevermind.
This is all aside from the fact I can’t interest Jamie in anything that doesn’t involve the ice queen of Arendelle. Maybe I tell him that Elsa’s underneath all that padding playing QB. The ball is really made of ice, and the defense is trying to stop its spread, and prevent an eternal winter.
The Bears aren’t doing their fans any favors. Instead, they brought bad to a whole new level in 2014. Here’s to hoping that Ryan Pace and John Fox can turn that train around, but it probably won’t be for a long, long time.
It is also difficult as a fan to take interest in a game involving a team that will be making their sixth appearance in the Big Game over the last 14 seasons, versus a team with the coach who left his previous job as his team landed in a heaping mess.
I’ll have the game on because well, I can’t not watch. For one thing, the commercials are always entertaining. Apparently, this year as a dad, apparently I have more incentive to watch the ads than in the past.
Despite not liking the teams, it should be a pretty good game. Maybe by kickoff we will stop having to hear about whether or not the balls are properly inflated. Maybe we will stop having to listen to press conferences ripe with double entendre. Hopefully there is enough material for the announcers to talk about otherwise.
If all else fails, I might just root for another power outage. Watching the power go out in a major stadium might just be enough to keep Jamie interested.
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I’m a Philly fan and from my perspective Chicago fans have had it pretty good. Blackhwaks have won a couple Cups over the last few years. White Sox won 10 years ago. The Bulls dynasty is 15 years old. The Bears – well it’s been a while.
The only sport my Philly teams compare favorably is in baseball.
Like you, I don’t love either team but am hoping for a good game.
That’s fair. I’d say the Eagles are traditionally in a bit better shape than the Bears as of late, and definitively Phillies over Cubs. The Bulls thing was something special, but there was A LOT of bad that followed that dynasty. They are still in the process of “recovering.”
For not liking either team, the Super Bowl did end up a great game!
Don’t try and push too hard. We never watched a lot of football around the house growing up, but it was a major event before Christmas when we would visit my grandparents. All of my Uncles, and my cousins would be sprawled about in the living room, watching the Vikings get beat by one team or another, and I’d be downstairs where the food was, or outside playing in the snow. I knew I was different and that I should be watching. All of my cousins were glued to the set, as I should have been too. I was all in if you offered to play catch with the football…but just didn’t want to watch it. I am still not a huge sports fan to this day, but i know and understand the game and can watch it if it’s on, and can hold a conversation about one team or another if need be.
It’s o.k if they don’t watch football.
No. Even when he’s older, I won’t push too hard. I have some strong opinions when it comes to local sports, so I may joke a lot, but if he doesn’t like sports at all, that’s OK too.