Watching the Cardinals with Dad or Not

I posted briefly about opening day on Monday. I didn't really do a big baseball post, and that feels wrong. So today I want to visit another area of my baseball conscious. Will Braden be a Cardinals fan like his Dad or not? I am almost certain that he will but let's examine the topic anyway.

For true fanatics sports loyalties are passed along like any other genes. You acquire your team from your Dad or Mom just like you acquire their last name. It comes with the territory. It doesn't work for casual fans. In those cases the child is left to find a team or even a different sport to follow. I became a Cardinal fan because my Dad was a Cardinal fan. My grandparents are also Cardinal fans. You may recall that I live in Arkansas. Why is a guy from Arkansas such a big Cardinal fan? It is the MLB team of choice for a majority of Arkansans. We don't have a team of our own, and St. Louis is one of the closest options. The Rangers are closer for some but they have no history which brings me to my next point.

Before the Dodgers and Giants moved to California the Cardinals were further west than any other team. Teamed up with the powerful KMOX radio station the Cardinals were broadcast all over the midwest and beyond. Our grandparents generation growing up anywhere west of the Mississippi had a great opportunity to become Cardinals fans. Many of them did. Several western states have their own teams now, but throughout the midwest the Cardinals are still king. They are regularly in the top 5 in attendance in a relatively small market like St. Louis. They can accomplish that because people come from Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and elsewhere to watch the Redbirds. I am proud to be a part of that large following.

Back to the subject of Braden joining our throng. He is off to a good start in Cardinals fandom. My brother gave him an Ozzie Smith autographed baseball that he had signed at a local Wal-Mart. Ozzie was my favorite player growing up. I remember my Dad telling me about "The Wizard" when we first watched games together. I played short stop and wanted to be just like Ozzie. Now Braden has this Hall of Famer's autograph. It will be a great time when I get to explain to him who signed his ball.

I know there is no guarantee that Braden will like the Cardinals. There's not even a guarantee that he will like sports in general. My Grandpa watches Cardinals baseball every day. He never misses a game and his son hates sports. I mean he hates them with a passion. So I don't have to look far for an example of what could happen. Still I am certain that Braden and I will share many summer nights watching the Cardinals play on TV. I plan on taking him to games in St. Louis as soon as possible. Doing those things should create memories that will last a lifetime. That is the truly great thing about sharing this interest. The time spent with Braden will be priceless.

The First Supper

It's Holy Week and the celebration of the Last Supper is only 2 days away. It seems like a good time to talk about eating. Add to that the fact that I am struggling for blog fodder today and you get this wonderfully insightful post. I dug deep into the archives of my home videos and found a clip to share. The clip shows the very first time Braden tasted the gooey goodness of baby food. That is what I call it even though I think the technical term is "solids". The genius that came up with this term obviously has a different interpretation of the various states of matter than I do.





This feeding was about a month ago. You will remember how excited I was to move on to solid food in this earlier post. The food in question in the video was green beans. Braden has moved on to peas, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes now. At first we were feeding him twice a day. For whatever reason this interrupted his sleeping patterns. As all new parents know this is the worst thing that can happen. You work so hard to get them into a regular sleeping routine that also allows you enough sleep to sustain life. Any backpedaling in this area is an absolute nightmare. Arica figured out that Braden slept better the few times we only fed him once a day. That was enough to permanently change the plan. So we are comfortably settled into a once a day vegetable sludge feeding. Everyone seems happy especially since proper sleep has been restored.

Sports in a Marriage

I am a bonified sports junkie. I love the big three baseball, basketball, and football. I have followed a team in each of these sports ever since I was a kid. I still do that today, but some other things have changed. I once heard Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio say that as you get older you have to trim your sports tree. I don't always agree with him but he definitely has this one right on. When you are younger and single you can follow every sport you want. You have no real responsibilities so you can spend every night watching TV. As you get older and have other duties with family and work you have to cut back on following some sports. For instance there might not be time to watch the random Saturday afternoon badminton match any more.

There was a time in my life, during college and shortly after I graduated, that I absolutely watched every single Cardinals game. This was before the advent of Tivo mind you. Every summer night during college you could find me sitting on the couch with a cold one tuned into the game. After I graduated I usually took my party to the bar at Applebee's. There I got control of the TV from the bartender and watched the Cards like it was my own personal viewing room. Everyone else had to watch or go somewhere else.

Those aren't the only sports freedoms the younger man can enjoy. I also watched nearly every single college basketball game on TV. I love college hoops so I would watch Big Monday, Super Tuesday, Whatever Wednesday and so on. I was a little over the top with sports, but if I was home that is what I was watching. I didn't watch TV dramas. I either watched Sports, Seinfeld, or maybe a movie. Now with a wife and kid things are different.

Arica is very understanding. She finds other ways to busy herself when I must watch sports. I have trimmed my tree back to the Cardinals and the Razorbacks. For some people that would still be a ton of sports but not for me. That is the bare minimum. I am not complaining. Spending time with my family is much more important than watching total strangers play games inside the television. I am writing about this today because it is one of the great sporting days of the year. Today is opening day of the baseball season. There was a game last night but it doesn't count as opening day in my mind. Today the St. Louis Cardinals will start the season in pursuit of another pennant. If you are unaware of my love for baseball you can read about it here. Being opening day I am sitting at my desk wearing my bright red Cardinals T-shirt today. I may be a grown man, but much like David Puddy, you gotta support the team. I don't know if many of my readers are baseball fans. I do know that my friend over at Daddy Files is a big Red Sox fan so he is probably excited today too.



Later tonight the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship will be played. I haven't missed a championship game in forever. Now the trick for me tonight is to watch these events while still maintaining my duties as father and husband. It is a tricky thing to pull off but I can do it. I am thankful that I cut back on so many unnecessary sports events. Doing that makes nights like tonight possible.

The World Waits on No One

I am happy to report that I am not in Kansas anymore. Unfortunately I have no more to write about fatherhood today than Toto. Unquestionably the worst thing about travelling, other than being away from home, is returning to work to find that the entire world kept on going without you. I have about 5 million things to do today. It would be nice if people were considerate enough to refrain from needing me when I am out of the office. I guess the plus side of being needed is job security.

I came home yesterday to a very happy household. I think both Arica and Braden were happy to see me. I took my turn on night watch last night. Braden was pretty nice to his dad only waking me up around 4:30. I rocked him back to sleep pretty quick.

He has a new fun way of waking us up in the morning. He calls out to us via karate kicks to the side of his crib. He kicks directly at the soother on the side of his crib. I think it is called a soother. It combines a series of lights, jungle sounds, and moving monkeys to help put Braden to sleep. He actually turns in on by kicking it with his feet. We may have a soccer player on our hands since he is operating toys with his feet already. I hope not. I don't like soccer. Soccer broke my nose.

I turned on the baby projector that I posted about here to try and get him to stop kicking for 30 minutes or so. It was 6 in the morning which is way too early for karate. The next thing I knew I woke up and it was 8:30. Now I am late for work on a day that I have a million things to do. So that is my situation. Actually this post is a pretty good assessment of fatherhood for working dad. Happy Fatherhood Friday.

There's No Place Like Home

Posting deep in the heart of Kansas I felt this was a perfect opportunity to slide in a Wizard of Oz reference. Even as a corny line it rings very true to me today. I am currently experiencing my longest time away from Arica and Braden since Braden entered our lives. There is so much about them that I miss. The Best Western Hotel in Wichita does their best to replace them, but they fall miserably short.

Instead of the warmth of Arica's beautiful blue eyes I have the warmth of a microwave perched atop the college boy beer fridge in my room. Instead of the fuzzy feeling I get every time I look at Braden I have the slightly abrasive feeling of my legs against the sweet yard sale couch from which I watch the TV. Instead of the comfort of spending the evening holding Arica tight I am blessed to have the comfort of sleeping alone in a bed that has no doubt served more people than the local Wal-Mart. Instead of the sheer joy of seeing Braden's toothless grin I can hear the annoying joy of someone laughing down the hall.

The hotel is not bad, but it is not home. At home I have a nice comfy chair where I wallow around. I sit in this chair and use the laptop via the wireless Internet. Here I am sitting at a poor excuse for a desk using the local network via a hub nailed to the side of my desk. At home I have a beautiful wife and a adorable son. At the hotel I have a school full of kids playing ping pong, playing pool, and playing in the pool.

I tried clicking the heels of my brown Steve Madden shoes together today to no avail. Apparently you need shiny red shoes for this to work. Since I own no such shoes I will drive back to Kansas City tomorrow and travel home via traditional means. Before long I will be telling Arica and Braden that I am not in Kansas anymore. It will probably be the only time that I can actually get away with such a cheesy line. I am excited already.