Fathers ... can't live with them and wouldn't be alive without them

posted by The Vidiot @ 4:31 PM Permalink

So when I was about 5 my Dad started taking me to his alma mater's football games. This time with my Dad was special, it was only him and me and none of my sibs were allowed. (It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that there was no way in hell they wanted to go, but still, it was a big honor and my special time with my Dad.)

And every year at the start of the season he'd say the same thing, "By god Bonson if they go to the Rose Bowl we're going!" And once again I didn't realize till much later that this was a pretty sure bet to tell your 5 year old son since our team had never, ever been to the Rose Bowl!

Heck, our team was so bad we didn't even say 'wait till next year,' we just said 'well, there they go again.'

But when I was ten lightning struck. During the regular season they pulled every game but one out their collective a$$es, usually by some last second bizarro play. Hell, they gained yardage on fumbles! They were nicknamed the 'Cardiac Kids', looking back, I would have called them 'Satan's Spawn'; nobody could have a season like that if they hadn't made a deal with the devil.

That season ended with a 3 way tie for 1st place in our conference. I remember waiting in the car for the announcement of which team was going to the Rose Bowl. Then it came, our team was going to the Rose Bowl ... and my Dad told me we we were going too!

All those years of watching losing teams together, eating frozen malteds in sub-zero weather, (the malteds were my idea, not Dad's), sitting in the snow, the rain, driving hours to away games, watching every last second of turf pounding misery, (did I mention that my Dad thought leaving early, no matter how lopsided the score, was disloyalty?), and finally we were going to a bowl game ... and it was in sunny SoCal!

Just my Dad and me, going to Disneyland, going to the Rose Parade and going to the Rose Bowl!

Ahh, good times, good times.[/wistful]

My Dad passed away some time ago, so if you still have yours give him a hug. And then give him a hug for me.

Happy Father's Day.