Bad Call

I guess you could say that I’m a pretty complex guy. I’m completely at home in a high-tech, contemporary environment yet I’m a Renaissance man at heart. One day I’ll wear a digital Momo racing watch and the next a vintage 1940s Longines aviator watch that belonged to my grandfather.

I’ll be checking email on my iPhone 5 in one hand while reading a first edition copy of Casino Royale by Ian Fleming in the other. On my wrist I have a leather and stainless steel TENO bracelet next to a “Rangzen” bracelet woven by Tibetan nuns in captivity. All these things seem to say something about me. Of course I haven’t quite figured out what that is.

I now have an absolute favorite pastime. I love watching live high school junior varsity football. Our 15-year-old daughter goes to a parochial high school that fairly recently went from all-girl to co-ed. This is the first year that the school has a football team and our daughter is a JV cheerleader, so we go to every game to watch her perform.

Now, it seems to me there’s not a whole lot of attention paid to JV games, unless you’re a parent, that is. But there’s just something about the purity of the game at this level, kind of like watching our kids play Little League Baseball, Pop Warner football or AYSO soccer. It’s refreshing to be sitting with the families of our football players and hearing their unwavering encouragement.

It’s not about making the spread or tailgating over too many beers, but pure unadulterated sport. I see great sportsmanship on and off the field, which only adds to my delight. Like, I’m so done with reality TV, celebrity news and partisan politics, that this feels like the real deal — life as it should be.

That is, until the referee makes a bad call that goes against our team. We parents in the stands are all over it. Replacement referees in the NFL? That’s child’s play!