The Wondo household (at least the male contingent) has
always been (a) interested in all sports all the time and (b) ardent supporters
of the local teams. With that thought … I
offer the current dilemma of the Warriors playing tomorrow night in a game
where we hope they win their first NBA Championship in 40 years – versus the
Earthquakes Open Cup Game. For me, there
is no dilemma. I saw the Warriors beat
the Bullets in a clean sweep when I was in grade school. In fact, I saw their coach get in a fight on
the court during one of the games … so I’ve seen it all. But I have not seen the Earthquakes play
Sacramento in the Open Cup in my entire life – so I will be in my usual seat
watching my favorite team.
Of course,
finding someone around the Wondo household who will go with me to the
Earthquakes game has become about as difficult as winning a header against
Clarence Goodson. It looks like I am
flying solo but hopefully will hook up with The Best Thing to Ever Happen to Chris and The Little Diva and we can sit together.
It makes me think
about being a dad (it is Father’s Day coming up for anyone who hasn’t rushed
out and purchased a bbq utensil for their dad yet). Nobody ever really told you the truth about
being a dad … for some reason there is this perpetual cycle of dads who
spread this one-sided story that being a dad is just absolutely rainbows
and butterflies. I think it would be unfair
for me to say that I have not seen my share of rainbows and butterflies – from each
of my three sons and two step-daughters.
But I have given up a piece of my sports heritage in the process.
One time, a few
years ago I was at a Quakes game where Chris ended up scoring a hat-trick
against Chivas USA. It was great –
except … the Giants were playing a playoff game that same night and I spent the
night shifting between the Quakes game and the Giants playoff game. Only to jump up and down when I checked and
the Giants won and those sitting next to me said: “Dude – that was on the scoreboard five
minutes ago”. I just said: “Oh, thanks, I guess I was too wrapped up in
this soccer game.”
Last year, Chris looked
at me in pre-game warmups to give him a sign on how the Giants were doing ---
unfortunately I gave him a thumbs down (because we just popped up with two outs
and runners in scoring position in the 8th inning). He took that to mean that we lost – the G-men
ended up winning. I failed as the
messenger.
Fortunately –
with the Giants and A’s successes … and now the Dubs successes … there have
been many times that I have been at a Quakes game and been somewhat distracted
by post-season games for our other teams.
My point to all
of this babble? … no point really –
except that I would love to watch the Dubs tomorrow night … but nowhere near as
much as I will love watching the Quakes tomorrow night. It’s great when it looks like fatherly-sacrifice
… but it is nothing even remotely like sacrifice. And last Father’s Day??? Oh … I was
sacrificing in Natal, Brazil with my two oldest sons ready to watch the USA
play Ghana the next night … so that perpetual cycle of dads who spread this
story about being a dad is absolutely rainbows and butterflies – I’m now one of
them. (And – I need to mention my youngest son Matt because he always tells me
that (a) he never reads what I write and (b) I never mention him). And being his dad has also been rainbows and butterflies.
