teaching the roles of a fan

Our church has a men's basketball team that is playing in the city league. Last night was their first game, so Jack and I went to cheer on daddy and the other men.

Jackson LOVED it. He sat and behaved so well in the bleachers. He was enthralled with the fast-pace, the buzzers, the whistles, and the fouls! :) We were the first "fans" to arrive. As we sat on the bleachers, I explained some of what was going on. Jackson looked up at me and said, "Mommy, this is so fun!" and he reached out and grabbed my hand. And held it for several minutes.

My heart melts with his sweet, loving nature!

However, this was not to last. Within minutes, we were joined by 8 other boys and their parents. Boy instincts kicked in and he quickly withdrew his hand. (Oh, the peer pressure, already!). Jackson asked if he could sit with his buddies. The front row was filled with boys with ages ranging from 10 to 3 - all chanting "Let's go Bridge!" and having the best time. Bob got a picture, and I'll have to get a copy from him. They were adorable... er, I mean way cool.

During all this, I realized that I am not a calm spectator when watching sports - particularly basketball. I hoot. I clap. I protest bad calls. All within perfectly reasonable good manners. I never boo the other team or anything like that. Come to think of it, I do the same watching sports at home. You know, because they can hear me through the TV and all.

But, what made me realize how vocal I am was how Jackson repeated every word out of my mouth. "Good defense, guys! ... "Way to hustle, Matt!" ... "Great play, Mike!"... Which is funny, since I am pretty sure Jackson's not yet savvy enough with sports to know what most of it means. He's just taking his cues from me. Scary, huh? :)

Even scarier is the thought of how I will react when it is Jackson playing the sport. Poor kid. He's bound for years of embarrassment.