24 Comments
founding
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

I started off my day yesterday by telling the older girl “stop being a tattletale.” So everything is going great. On the scale of “things I’ll never do as a parent,” I think I’m about a week away from breaking the glass on “because I said so.”

Expand full comment
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

"Daddy, it’s okay that our team lost. I liked watching with you."

To quote Zeke from Bob's Burgers, "He got me! I'm doing it. Goog god I'm crying."

Expand full comment
founding
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

I've had a similar crisis of conscience this year. I'm a rabid Carolina Panthers fan. The team is weapons grade butt and will be for some time. People keep buying my baby panthers swag and I feel bad about it. Feels like I'm saddling her with my least healthy relationship.

Expand full comment
founding
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

I might go on for a bit here, but bear with me. I’m a Chiefs fan (I know, sorry) since my dad’s from the KC area. KC isn’t in the realm of Cleveland sports disappointment, but the Chiefs alone have their own history of letdowns, and generally just being bad for years at a time. Still, I grew up in Louisville and I remember calling the hotline to vote for which NFL game got aired that weekend, voting for the Chiefs as much as possible. Last year, they finally did the thing, and I made sure my dad was with me to watch that game. And let me tell you, I wouldn’t trade that day for anything. My six-year-old is in the same place as your 5-year-old now and honestly, one of the things I get excited for in the future are the shared experiences of watching our teams together. It’s something I just generally have good memories doing with my family growing up and what I hope to do with my own family now. I guess all I’m trying to get at is the road is so worth it. The Browns will get there, and trust me you’re going to remember the excitement on your kids’ faces more than the game itself.

Expand full comment
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

can't wait to drink muni lot beers with him in 2035.

Expand full comment
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

This summed up the regular conversation at my house with my 7-month pregnant wife... our hometown allegiances are the Texans and Falcons, and neither of us likes the local Titans. We've resigned ourselves to just let Junior pick out whatever team is good when he gets to the right age, as we can't, in good conscience, force either of our allegiances on him. Our college teams aren't any better, and as noted, those guys don't even get paid!

Expand full comment
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

This was wonderfully written and heartfelt but I'm still not going to let my future offspring be Jets fans

Expand full comment

I have a different twist on this article. I am a third-generation Gator and grew up living and dying on what happened on Saturdays. Also, the only good in the college football universe were the Gators (I'm thinking of Rudy's dad on the Indiana-Purdue game).vv

Being mid-30s, I have been lucky to grow up watching my team win 3 titles and be fairly competitive for my whole life (sometimes more than others) so I am not particularly worried about quite the same problem as introducing my kids to a lifetime of misery (although that being said, I don't think we are reaching the highs of the Spurrier or Urban days anytime soon).

In my younger days, I used to scoff at people who were able to compartmentalize, get over losses instantly, and claim that it was just a game. Or people that rooted for multiple teams and had multiple team shirts (mumble mumble bandwagon). I was never going to be that person and my house would continue my, for lack of a better phrase, Gator supremacist beliefs.

Now, having kids, and the benefit of some more age and travel, I am the opposite of that and I am hoping to pass this newer version of me on to my kids. I have multiple team shirts (some even of other SEC schools to my dad's displeasure), watch other games at the same time as the Gator game (2 TV set up for the Fall is essential), and generally am ok if we lose.

My kids are still too young to actively watch with me (they're 4 year old twins), but my daughter and son proudly know several non-Gator affiliated cheers and hand singals (from Row the Boat to Gig Em Aggies to Forks Up) and I hope to continue that general love for sports, the weirdness, and the healthy attitude of just enjoying being together and watching each Saturday. That is the thing that I swore I would never do as a parent and I am 100% glad that I did

(my kids and I will still loathe Florida State and Georgia...that is a bridge too far to cross in my new expanded fandom).

Expand full comment
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

What a fine newsletter today, Scott. Yours is a lucky kid, may I say. Don't be embarrassed, it's true. About the game: I am a fairly new NFL fan and I really don't understand all the rules, and how the same thing is OK at one point and not OK at another. Confusing and inconsistent. Here's another observation from a relative outsider: They should eliminate the farting around with timeouts to run down the clock at the end. It destroys the integrity of the game IMO. I'll shut up now.

Expand full comment
Jan 18, 2021Liked by Scott Hines

As the New Englander, I’m going to keep quiet knowing that we have been absolutely spoiled these past 20 years and know that there is a looming darkness on the horizon.

Expand full comment