Heh Jay... great article. I really enjoyed it! I was once a Red Sox fan too. Wonder why the Red Sox have so many ex-fans!
As a 60-something mother of adult men, I barely notice sports but I loved this piece! Fathers have fewer bonding platforms with their kids so I applaud the thoughtfulness (and humor) of this dad. Batter up!
How cute! A fan thinks rooting interest is so pliable that he can influence that of his child in a will-it-go-viral-or-won't-it way.
I may retch.
It's a baseball team, and while my rooting interests ARE a religion to me, I fall just shy of thinking that anyone outside of my home could care at all.
Go to a ballpark and look around for a second. Fans with much less, or much more, passion than you are in abundance. Making a choice of which group your child ought to be affiliated with should not be so tough.
Just pick one. Sheesh!
Except the Evil Empire, of course. In that way lies insanity.
I may retch.
It's a baseball team, and while my rooting interests ARE a religion to me, I fall just shy of thinking that anyone outside of my home could care at all.
Go to a ballpark and look around for a second. Fans with much less, or much more, passion than you are in abundance. Making a choice of which group your child ought to be affiliated with should not be so tough.
Just pick one. Sheesh!
Except the Evil Empire, of course. In that way lies insanity.
1
Oh, jeez. Stop with the overintellectualized handwringing. With any luck, your daughter will be honest and grow up to say that her dad wasn't much of a baseball fan, but once considered it might be a useful way of virtue signaling.
6
When my youngest daughter was about 7, she became a huge Mets fan via a circuitous route: she adored Edgardo Alfonzo, and therefore his team. Her bedroom filled with Mets caps, #13 jerseys, photos, handmade signs, and whatever else she could get her hands on. She and I would spend weekend afternoons watching baseball together, sometimes my Yankees, but more often her boys, the Mets.
Why the attraction to Alfonzo in the first place? As she explained years later, it was simply his name - she loved the sound of it. Twenty years later, we both look back fondly at those times spent side by side on the sofa - her in an oversized Alfonzo jersey and Mets cap - discussing all things baseball.
Why the attraction to Alfonzo in the first place? As she explained years later, it was simply his name - she loved the sound of it. Twenty years later, we both look back fondly at those times spent side by side on the sofa - her in an oversized Alfonzo jersey and Mets cap - discussing all things baseball.
2
As a former almost New Yorker (Jersey represent) and current Bostonian by way of Charlotte, Atlanta, and Lakewood Ranch, FL (Tampa Bay), I can offer you the following advice, with a smattering of my dad chiming in from the great beyond:
1. As a New Yorker, there is no greater privilege than to be a New York Giants football fan. Should you choose his option on your daughters behalf, you can rest assured that as she makes her way through the streets of Boston in her Giants gear, as I often do, she can simply remind all those maniacal Pats fans that, yes, the New York Football Giants are the only team to have beaten their beloved Patriots twice in the Super Bowl. This is the single most affective way to silence Patriots fans. Big Blue is the way to go.
2. Baseball is much trickier. My Dad was a lifelong Dodgers fan. After they moved to LA, he repeated told me there was "no baseball in Queens" and he'd rather drop dead than consider pinstripes. That being said, I am only a partial Red Sox fan, as my heart was stolen by the Tampa Bay Rays, MLB's perpetual also rans and official farm team to World Series champs. All it took was Joe Madden and Ben Zobrist to turn the Cubbies into champs. So go full underdog, and join the Rays Nation.
3. As for European Soccer, why would you go anywhere other than Gunners? Arsenal, all the way.
Good Luck, may the Fan be with you.
1. As a New Yorker, there is no greater privilege than to be a New York Giants football fan. Should you choose his option on your daughters behalf, you can rest assured that as she makes her way through the streets of Boston in her Giants gear, as I often do, she can simply remind all those maniacal Pats fans that, yes, the New York Football Giants are the only team to have beaten their beloved Patriots twice in the Super Bowl. This is the single most affective way to silence Patriots fans. Big Blue is the way to go.
2. Baseball is much trickier. My Dad was a lifelong Dodgers fan. After they moved to LA, he repeated told me there was "no baseball in Queens" and he'd rather drop dead than consider pinstripes. That being said, I am only a partial Red Sox fan, as my heart was stolen by the Tampa Bay Rays, MLB's perpetual also rans and official farm team to World Series champs. All it took was Joe Madden and Ben Zobrist to turn the Cubbies into champs. So go full underdog, and join the Rays Nation.
3. As for European Soccer, why would you go anywhere other than Gunners? Arsenal, all the way.
Good Luck, may the Fan be with you.
2
I think it was more fun to support the Red Sox and the Patriots before they were expected to win everything. That may explain why Jay Kang pulls for the underdog now that the Sox and the Pats are favorites to win.
1
The real reason to be a Sox fan is Fenway park.
Make sure the first game you take her to is a night game and watch her face as you come up the steps into the bright lights, to see the green green field. Say, at about age 6-8. Don't forget the Fenway Franks.
Make sure the first game you take her to is a night game and watch her face as you come up the steps into the bright lights, to see the green green field. Say, at about age 6-8. Don't forget the Fenway Franks.
2
Here's an idea - and I'm just thinking out loud here - why don't you let her make her own choice when she's a little older. She may not even like sports or, if she does, the major ones.
5
Dude, it's not supposed to be about you. Just pay really close attention to your daughter. Peer into her eyes, and mirror and reflect her experiences back to her. Try to work out *exactly* what she's thinking and feeling. It takes a lot of energy. Leverage those gooey, in-love feelings to overcome the boredom and the anxiety. She will have no problems developing a sense of identity that might, and might not, involve a sports team.
5
Best mommy blog parody ever.
7
As a Red Sox fan born in the Impossible Dream summer of 1967, I've always rooted for the Red Sox, never thought about rooting for another team. I've lived all over and will root for the home team if the Red Sox aren't playing and always against the Yankees no matter their opponent. I've rooted for the Mets at games and because I have friend/family who are fans, for the Reds because when I lived there it made the people in Ohio forget they were living in Ohio for just a moment.
If you can't decide, root for the home team wherever you are. It makes you feel like you're a part of a community, win or lose.
But, make fun of Tom Brady and the Patriots one more time and Murph, Sully and Kelly are gonna come visit you to detail where you've made your mistakes.
If you can't decide, root for the home team wherever you are. It makes you feel like you're a part of a community, win or lose.
But, make fun of Tom Brady and the Patriots one more time and Murph, Sully and Kelly are gonna come visit you to detail where you've made your mistakes.
2
pick a sport or team that doesn't have as its goal making money for some rich white guy(s). pro sports are about money not ______ (fill in the blank) but money. if they don't make money they move or disappear. teach your daughter/son loyalty to something deserving it.
1
Maybe at her age, the Cubs would be a fitting choice.
5
What a truly amazing article. You mention the woman's soccer team at the end -- please, please take your daughter to watch women's sports games as well!! My dad always took my sister and I to watch the Boston Breakers, and watching those games helped me to grow up believing that women could be anything. The Breakers are still a great team, and the stadium at their games is mostly crowds of 12-18 year old soccer players there to watch their idols.
Plus, an added bonus is that I've never heard of there being incidents of racism at women's sports games.
Plus, an added bonus is that I've never heard of there being incidents of racism at women's sports games.
8
as a life long mets fan i can attest that being a fan of this team will guarantee to build character, through many seasons of losing & suffering...for the record, i brought both my daughters up as met fans, and they are better people for it...
1
Just choose the Cubs, and don't give it a second thought.
"In January, my wife gave birth to a fat baby girl . . . ."
Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, enjoy the early fatherhood. Once she learns how to read, however, your daughter will never forgive you for that one.
Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, enjoy the early fatherhood. Once she learns how to read, however, your daughter will never forgive you for that one.
9
You missed the cultural reference. He (and she) will be Just Fine.
Try to feel what she's feeling and think what she's thinking. Listen to what you're thinking and feeling and ask yourself if it comes from her or from you.
2
You don't feel accepted as a Red Sox fan because of how you look--really? I am Asian-American, second gen, older than you. I inherited my loyalty to the Sox from my dad and, frankly, from the mere fact of growing up in Massachusetts. I've never felt unwelcome in Red Sox Nation because of my ethnicity, even at my greatest sensitivity to side-eye.
8
This is the very definition of a band wagon or fair weather fan...
2
Actually, it's not at all like being a fair weather fan. The author was not selecting a team because of its winning criteria, he was just trying to find a basis upon which to select a team so as to share it with his daughter.
Every fandom has to start somewhere.
Every fandom has to start somewhere.
3
If you don't already have a team that you're sentimentally attached to, why not pick a professional women's sports team to root for with your daughter?
11
Women's pro leagues? Where?
They tend to die prematurely, except for the WNBA which has been kept alive by the men's league money.
The little girl doesn't deserve that kind of heartbreak.
They tend to die prematurely, except for the WNBA which has been kept alive by the men's league money.
The little girl doesn't deserve that kind of heartbreak.
your daughter should root for your team whatever it is. I was
a New York Giants fan and when they went west, I eventually
became a Mets fan. our daughter liked the blue color of my cap
and started rooting for the MEts too.
you can root for your daughter's college team. it will be great
bonding experience
a New York Giants fan and when they went west, I eventually
became a Mets fan. our daughter liked the blue color of my cap
and started rooting for the MEts too.
you can root for your daughter's college team. it will be great
bonding experience
3
Adversity? Columbia Lions football. Oh, you want them to win once in a while? Never mind then . . .
5
I'm a dyed in the wool METS fan from the get go , I used to play hooky to watch Seaver pitch, my 11 year old daughter is a hard core Tigers fan , it's all good : ) my newborn son, well , we live in the Detroit metro area , he like his sister will probably root for the home team , he should , it's the right thing to do , there is always the inter league games : )
1
Why not bond with your daughter over a sport that showcases high-achieving, athletic women?
14
I suspect that the writer, as a sort-of past Red Sox fan, would not even consider the Yankees!
Why not the Mets? If culture is a concern, Queens is one of the most culturally diverse areas in the U.S. Plus the child could root for a "home" team, and maybe attend a few live games per year.
But I do have to hand it to the Red Sox fans- their fan base spans most of New England. Many times, I have travelled to Northern N.E. and seen games playing on TVs in restaurants, Sox memorabilia on the walls, etc. They are certainly devoted.
Why not the Mets? If culture is a concern, Queens is one of the most culturally diverse areas in the U.S. Plus the child could root for a "home" team, and maybe attend a few live games per year.
But I do have to hand it to the Red Sox fans- their fan base spans most of New England. Many times, I have travelled to Northern N.E. and seen games playing on TVs in restaurants, Sox memorabilia on the walls, etc. They are certainly devoted.
2
No past or present Red Sox fan could ever support the Mets after 1986. It's madness to even suggest the idea.
1
I grew up outside of Detroit as a Tiger fan. When my first daughter was born in 1991 (before streaming), she became a Yankee fan, due in part to my reading the NYT sports page accounts of Yankee games to her as bedtime stories. As the Yankees dynasty of the late 90s took shape, she became a rabid fan, and I along with her. Now she wears her Yankee gear proudly in Seattle and we follow them together via text. The Tigers are a first love, never forgotten, but the Yankees are a shared love that binds my daughter and I together. Why not the Yanks?
6
As a long time Mets fan (thanks to my forsaken Brooklyn father who could never ever root for the Evil Empire), I grudgingly allowed my two daughters to root for the Yankees (Ooh Derek, we love Andy, etc) - and I have never forgiven myself . Thankfully, my older daughter had the good sense to marry a Mets fan and I now have a second chance with one month old Logan - already fully outfitted and having "watched" with me his first (of many) Mets blown saves - pure joy! Having said all of that, my God, how could you, Jay - the Sox??? Please reconsider.
1