I went with my son last night to the bowling alley where he was saying his good-byes before he headed out to 5 HS baseball buddies who bowl in a league. They sukked, got their a$$ handed to them, but were competitive to the end, were not happy losing, but went down as a team. It was fun to watch the juices flow. Then we went in the bar and watched the Games and they started playing trivia about the Olympics, questions like "name the spins in ice skating" "how many gates in the giant salaam", "how tall is the half pipe", "how much does a stone weigh". They had a book with all the answers, they took turns asking questions, answers were written down, and points were given for the closest answers. This went on for over two hours, and it sounded like the super bowls was in progress. In the end, there was a metal presentation which was 3 pints of various qualities of beer. What surprised me was how much knowledge they had about the other sports, their interest in them, but mostly their patriotism.
After my guts stopped hurting from laughter I started to wonder if it is true that age closes your mind to examine new things in a fresh way. The boys do not follow these sports year round, except for the Games, but had a genuine interest sparked because it was "fresh" and competitive. The questions for the 30+ crowd here....
Have your competitive opinions about sports mellowed since you were 20-25, and if so was it because you tried to set an example for your kids to follow?
In general, do you accept the changes in sports culture over time, or do you go with the "I remember Years ago..." fallback answer?
Did your beliefs then, dictate the way you started your sons athletic path?
Would that path be different today?
If you could change one thing back to your younger years about "sports", what would that be? (DH, drug testing, FA, NCAA,...)
And the kicker
Have you turned into your Dad?
btw- I had to be the judge last night. I thought they might think I was out of their league, and a pro. However, they said they considered me professional because I've probably had the opportunity to attend every Olympic since Greece.
