I’ve talked a lot about football lately, which is kind of crazy to me, because I only have a passing interest in it. I enjoy watching the long pass plays, but you know the thing about football? Pro football is owned by billionaires, played my millionaires, and fantasy played by thousandaires. I get them wanting to do it, because holy cow can you make a living for a few years by playing in the NFL.
But the amateur football players I don’t get. My son is in third grade, and from September until middle of October, he practiced two hours a day 3 times a week, and had to show up an hour early on Saturdays for practice before his games. We drove miles sometimes to watch a team that didn’t win once.
Also, I have two nephews, one on each side that played every year until this year, as seniors, they got to sit on the bench. Both spent years of their lives practicing, running plays, attending team meetings, dinners and sometimes didn’t get home until midnight, where they were supposed to do their “first priority” homework. And guess what they got for all their hard work? The chance to sit on the bench of mediocre teams as seniors.
On the positive side (for me) they both were on teams that were on teams that were up in air on this Wednesday night. They had to win in order to tie the teams in their divisions. So it all came to a coin flip to see who was in, and who had to play each other.
If you are smart(or read the title of the post), you probably figured out that the coin flip had landed right on the side of the coin and my nephews are playing each other this coming Tuesday. Nephew vs. Nephew. Mediocre teams vs. Mediocre team. Bench player vs. Bench player. My side of the family vs. My wife’s side of the family. Time to choose. You know which side I’m going for. You know what side my wife is going for. This isn’t just a parent that has two kids, one at Duke and one at North Carolina. This is a family that could be ripped apart by a game that none of us care about, except for two lovable bench warmers.
So who is going to win? The one on MY side, or that other side of the family?
And just to give you a little extra motivation, view the emotional video above of one from my side of the family, and the none video I made of the other side.
ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH
Bitter Family Rivalry Ben