Wahoo-wa

I have stumbled upon some problems trying to get our new laptop to recognize our older digital camera. Therefore, my plan to write about Jacob, complete with pictures, will have to wait until I figure out this technological riddle. That also explains my delay in posting.

For now, I figured I could talk about my day today (Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007). I went to Laramie Wyoming to watch the Virginia Cavaliers play the Wyoming Cowboys with my buddy Mike. I've been a big Virginia fan since I started going to their games in 1983. My dad and I attended just about every home game from then until 1991. Naturally, one does not drop a team after spending so much time rooting for them. I lived and died with those UVA teams when we lived in Virginia and have followed the team ever since.

Unfortunately, it was different this time. I had contemplated taking Jacob with me, but it was too hot, he is too active (and mobile) and it would probably have only served to distract me from the game and annoy fellow spectators. So, I left him home. I'm glad I did. My hope was to take him to a UVA game just as my dad took me. Afterall, this was probably one time the Wahoos will ever come around these parts again.

Not only did UVA get killed and look horrible, but it was just different this time. Many would wonder why I would root for a team I only followed over one from which I received a degree. I can't really explain it other than that there was always something special about UVA. Probably because when I went to those games, I had my dad all to myself. I was about 7 or 8 when I started going to those games and was about 14 or 15 when we moved. Those are ages when alone-time with a parent is important.

I can still remember being angry at dad when he used "my" ticket for a friend of his who was visiting from out of town. I remember feeling hurt that he would contemplate taking anyone else. Kids don't understand those things sometimes.

I now know that it will never be like that with Jacob and UVA. Simply put, that was for me and dad and no one else. It will never be duplicated. Watching my first live UVA game without my dad pretty much sealed the deal for me. It'll never be the same again. And, that's OK. In fact, it's actually comforting to know that it really was the quality time and not the game that mattered. It was equally comforting and depressing to realize that.

It is important for kids to have something they can do with each parent exclusively. I hope to have something like that with Jacob. I've already decided that if Jacob is interested and has the attention span (and after a few trial runs when he is old enough), I will look into Colorado University season tickets. Then that can become our special time. If he isn't interested in CU football, we'll find something else. It could be anything. I don't care what it is, sports or not. But, one way or another we will find something that will be for us only.

Jacob has already taken to helping Jen in the garden and is always thrilled to get in the mud and pick the flowers. I hope he finds something that the two of them will also have as mom-son time (and it looks like they have an early leader in gardening). I think such intimate relationship building with parents individually builds strong connections.

For now, I walk away from the train-wreck performance by Virginia in Laramie without too much disappointment. No matter how much UVA stunk, my memories are safe. I was at the 1990 game when Virginia beat Clemson for the first time in 30 tries. I still remember the scream of the crowd when the punt-returner broke free down the sidelines and it was obvious that the curse was over. I found a You-Tube clip of that moment and it's just as I remembered it. Please see the first play from the TOP video I linked to the left of this post (titled 1990 Virginia vs. Clemson football part II). The punt return is the first play you see. Pay special attention to late in the run when the crowd realized together "holy cow, he didn't step out of bounds and is still going!" That squeal is still vivid in my memory. If you watch both links, they provide all the highlights from the game.

What great times. I am already watching closely to make sure Colorado is on the right path so the team will perform well for me and Jacob down the road if that's what we end up doing. (It didn't hurt that they beat CSU today... although I'm still usually only relieved when they win that game as opposed to happy). But, even if they don't get better quickly, I remember suffering through a 55-0 loss to Clemson in 1984. I remember because I couldn't blow my new UVA horn unless Virginia scored. When UVA blocked a fourth-quarter extra point, dad let me blow the horn. It made the 1990 game all the sweeter.

I look forward to my Jacob time, no matter what it is. And I hope it'll some day be as special for him as it was for me when I was the kid. And I imagine I'll just root for UVA alone... which is just fine by me.