I read on Proudparenting.com that the Chicago Tribune recently profiled Notre Dame’s new starting quarterback, Dayne Crist, and mentioned his support for ending homophobia. According to the article, Crist “arrived early for an appointment at the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, wearing red workout shorts and a black T-shirt. On the shirt’s front, in large white lettering, was “StaND Against Hate”. He wore the tee-shirt during a week on campus dedicated to ending hate against LGBT people. This is pretty great news to see a high-profile college football player publicly sending a message that we need to stamp out homophobia!
Upon hearing this news, I have decided to come clean on this blog and let people know about a fantasy I have for Max. Those of you who have known me since childhood know that I wasn’t the most coordinated or tough-looking kid. For those of you who don’t know me from back then, I’m sure this admission is not a big shocker! Even though I have become a pretty good tennis player over the years, “coordinated” is probably not one of the first words one thinks of when describing me. For example, at a family outing just a couple of months back we were playing kickball, and I could hear my brother David telling his girls to kick the ball to Uncle Jacob if they wanted to be sure to get onto to first base!
So my fantasy for Max is that this confident, yet humble, intellectually curious and sensitive son that I am sure Max already is will grow up to also be a star linebacker! When I told my mother this she said, “You are not serious! Do you know all the kinds of injuries you can get playing football?!” Yes mom, but my tough little Max can handle it. I never would have imagined that I would fantasize about Max playing, let alone excelling at, football. But as I have probably mentioned in a previous post, Max is a pretty big kid for his age. Many people comment in particular on the size of his thighs, including his Papa who likes to teasingly call him “thunder thighs”. Last week a stranger came up to Max and me in the neighborhood and asked, “What’s up with Bamm-Bamm?” That’s because at his 3 month check-up, Max weighed in at 18 ½ pounds and 25 ¾ inches tall, both of which are pretty much off the charts. We are excited -- and a little afraid! -- to see the stats at his upcoming 4 month check-up.
So I envision Stewart and me high-fiving every fall Friday night at Max’s high school football games when he sacks the quarterback and then looks up into the stands at his proud daddies who are yelling “Yeah baby, that’s our boy!” But if Max doesn’t make it to the highest levels of football stardom I will still be okay with it. He may end up not becoming this mammoth guy after all, or football may not interest him. In that case, he’ll just have to become a tennis prodigy instead so we can watch him at the U.S. Open. No pressure Max!
Oh Jacob, Max the linebacker?! Amazing! The cousins Victoria and Amy are hoping for baseball skills we'll work on that with Maxius supremus
ReplyDeleteAs I -- a football devotee -- already told Max's Abba, the highest IQ football players are on the offensive line. And as I wrote about in a piece about NY Giants training camp (www.naomifein.net, in the published article section), I've put on some pro football equipment and getting hit isn't quite as bad as it looks.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I must also tell Max that anybody who has ever played professional football -- no matter how short the period as a pro -- waddles. That is, football is really lousy on the knees.
However, as a fan of defense, I'd LOVE to have a linebacker in the family.
At 3 months, Max weighed more than Leander does now (at 8 months!). Maybe football IS in his future.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, my wife went to ND and loves football, which I generally detest, but knowing this information will surely make it easier to watch the game today. Thanks!