Not sure if I’m a glutton for punishment or a die-hard fan, but I almost always watch every play of a game - even when I already know we’ve lost. But this time is a special memory for me. (Long story, feel free to skip).
My 7 year-old son has never really been a football fan, but has recently gotten into playing football with his friends. They all have their favorite NFL teams, and he often asks about which team is my favorite. I always tell him my top 3: “Georgia Tech, whoever’s playing Georgia, and Nebraska, in that order.” (I married into the last one.)
My son has only been to 1 football game: a Nebraska game last year, as my wife’s family has had season tickets since they built the South stands at Memorial Stadium. We go back to one game a year, and last year he was finally old enough to be interested in sitting through an entire game. He’s unfortunately never been to a Tech game, since we no longer have family that lives in the state, and that has often tugged at my heart since I spent most falls in my childhood on the 50 yard line, 3 rows back in the Upper West stands. He tends to show more interest in Nebraska, having been there, but is really lukewarm about college football (& watching football on TV) in general. So he rarely watched Tech.
So I was surprised on Saturday when he came into the kitchen after dinner and wanted to sit down and watch the 2nd half of the game with me. (My wife was at an event, so it was just me, my son, and my 5 year-old daughter, who was busy coloring). So we watched it together.
At one point, I said “what we need here is an interception,” and the next play LaMiles Brooks picked it off in the end zone. A bit later, he said: “Get an interception, Jackets!” And the next play, Jaylon King grabbed Van Dyke’s pass in stride and took it almost to the end zone. My son was ecstatic. It was pretty cool.
As the end of the game came up, I told him it didn’t look good - that there was always a chance, but all Miami had to do was kneel down, and we were done. But we played hard, created opportunities to win, and that was the important thing. We could be proud of the effort we put forward - and when you put out maximum effort, you may not win, but you’ll be ready to take advantage of it if something happens. Always keep playing until the whistle blows. This was some good conversation, as he plays lacrosse, and is taking a lot of this with him to games right now.
And then the unthinkable happened. As the fumble came loose, my son and I were both on our feet, yelling, and cheered even harder when the fumble ruling stood. And then a couple of plays later, we scored and sealed the deal. I’ve never heard my kid cheer so loud, and never seen him be so into a football game.
When my wife got home, he talked the game up to her. And then made us both watch it again with him the next day. He spent all Sunday talking about Georgia Tech.
So yeah, sorry for the long post, but this is a helluva memory for me. This game will stick with me for a long time, not only for the win, but also for the overall experience with my son - who I think is going to start lobbying hard for us to take them to Ireland next year.
Go, Jackets - and thanks for playing with your hair on fire this game. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was the sort of game that teaches a 7 year old boy a lot of important lessons. And maybe even turns him into a football fan.
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