It’s working

I like sports. Specifically I like the New York Jets. It’s not easy raising Jets fans in New England, but I’m managing to do it. My son regularly goes off to school in his Chad Pennington jersey; he did so even on the eve of the Patriots’ most recent Super Bowl win. He was the ONLY kid in school dressed in green. Even my youngest, just 20 months old, cries out “Jets! Jets! Jets!” when I put the football game on TV. I also had the only 3-year-old in New England who roots specifically for a defensive lineman of a rival team.

When it comes to baseball, I helped my oldest develop an affinity for the Red Sox, and he’s now a true fan. Personally I’m a Met, but I have a soft spot for the Sox. I root for them since they’re the home team and, most importantly, they’re not the Yankees. Frankly, I hate the Yankees. I’m a second generation Yankee hater, my dad being a Brooklyn Dodger fan (he’s still angry that they moved) and a converted Atlanta Braves fan.

One friend pointed out that it’s a cruel punishment to root for the Jets and Sox, it’s a life of almost-but-not-quite-good-enough. Then again, it’s the same in Detroit.

All this was going along just fine until my middle son, then 3, told me something I never wanted to hear: he likes the Yankees. “This isn’t happening”, came my first thought. “How can this be? A Yankee fan in my house?”

I tried to tell him he was wrong, he just couldn’t like the Yankees. I told him that I would never buy him Yankee gear, but he held firm. I tried to get him to like the Mets or the Braves, but he’s not moving. During Star Wars I read him the opening words by saying things like “The Evil Empire, also known as
the New York Yankees" and “the Emperor, also known as George Steinbrenner”, but he just told me to stop.

This means I have a Yankee fan and a Red Sox fan sleeping in bunk beds. This ought to be fun.

This past week at the pediatrician’s office I told the doctor that we had a problem.

“What is your favorite baseball team?”, I asked my son.

“The Yankees”, he replied.

“See”, I told the doctor.

Later we discussed how he’s pushing people’s buttons on a regular basis and made some comment about how I think that’s what he’s doing with me in regards to the Yankees.

“And it’s working”, the doctor pointed out.

He’s right.