Lesson #2: The Chicago Blackhawks

I’m not generally a superstitious person.  I don’t throw salt over my left shoulder; I don’t have a rabbit foot on my keychain; and if I break a mirror, I’m much more concerned about avoiding getting cut by shards of glass than I am about incurring seven years of bad luck.

That being said, though, I do think about superstitions fairly often.  If I’m walking outside, I tend to avoid the cracks in the sidewalk panels so I don’t “break my mother’s back.”[1]  When I open my umbrella indoors to let it dry out in my hallway, I think to myself about whether that will bring bad luck.  My family has a superstition that if you either step over a person who happens to be on the floor or walk in a complete circle around someone, you both acquire all of their sins and invite the evil eye upon them.  I’ve never bought these ideas, but they do pop into my head whenever I step over my son while he’s playing on the floor.  Continue reading “Lesson #2: The Chicago Blackhawks”

Lesson #1: The Chicago Cubs

Baseball is stupid.

I know, you’re confused. “What do you mean? You said this is a blog about sports and I know you’re a baseball fan! How can you say baseball is stupid?” Just bear with me.

I repeat: baseball is stupid. One guy throws a ball, another guy tries to hit it, and eight other guys run around throwing the ball to each other. Some of the position names make sense (pitcher, catcher, baseman) but some definitely do not (what’s a shortstop?). The managers and coaches never play in the games but they wear the same uniforms as the players.[1] Some teams don’t even put their players’ names on the backs of the uniforms so unless you follow the team closely or you’re watching on television, you don’t know who you’re watching.[2] And the game is so freaking slow.  Continue reading “Lesson #1: The Chicago Cubs”

What I Didn’t Expect

(Sorry for the delay in posts.  Work and preparations for E’s birthday party have kind of dominated the last two weeks.)

Parenting is a weird business.

Weird may not be the best word for it; I just chose it because there are so many different ways of looking at being a parent and so many different things to experience that “weird” seems like a catch-all word.  Parenting is the one job[1] I can think of that can make a person laugh, cry and want to punch a hole in the wall all in the span of five minutes.  It’s exhilarating and heart-wrenching, amazing and overwhelming, all at once.  The biggest thing about being a parent, though, is this:

You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.  Continue reading “What I Didn’t Expect”

Earning My Stripes

Yesterday, my wife went to the gym for some much needed (and deserved) time to herself. Before she left, she prepared some food for our son’s breakfast so all I really had to do was feed him and clean him up afterwards.* Once he was finished, I took him out of his high chair and put him down with his toys. I knew there were some things that needed to be done that morning – laundry, cleaning, etc. -and I was able to do some of it with my son (for instance, E is great at sitting on my lap while I separate laundry).  Continue reading “Earning My Stripes”

The Four Lessons: An Introduction

A few weeks after my son was born, I was sitting with him in my living room watching television and decided it was time to begin his education.

There’s been all kinds of research about how reading to your kids even while they’re still in the womb benefits their intellectual development.* You’re supposed to read to them, sing to them, play music for them and basically do anything that would annoy you if you were trying to sleep as a way to stimulate their tiny little neurons and synapses. By encouraging brain development, you’re preparing your baby for more conventional learning later on. All that being said, the education I had in mind had nothing to do with any of this.

It was time to teach him about Chicago sports.  Continue reading “The Four Lessons: An Introduction”

Yup, I’m 30.

Time is a very weird thing.

There are moments when I feel like I’ve been doing something for twenty minutes or so and it turns out I’ve been there for a few hours (T will vehemently disagree, but our son’s birth was sort of like this for me). And then there are other points when it seems like the second hand literally could not be moving any slower if it wanted to (“The flight is how long???”). Time flies or it drags on, but the point is that it’s always moving.

Yes, today is my birthday. Yes, I’m now 30. But no, I don’t really feel that weird about it.  Continue reading “Yup, I’m 30.”

Welcome!

I don’t talk a lot.

I’m sure there are people who would disagree with that statement. For example, some of my clients don’t talk much either, which means I end up having to say a lot more to get the information I’m after. But that’s not to say I’m necessarily a quiet person. Anyone who has ever watched a Chicago sports game with me will tell you that I am particularly skilled in yelling at the television or making obnoxious comments about officiating (one of my father’s favorite baseball moments involves one particular remark I made at an Orioles game we attended with my brothers). 

But in general, I don’t tend to talk very much.

Part of the reason is that I’ve always felt more comfortable listening than talking. I enjoy gathering information. I enjoy listening to other people’s opinions. Most of all, I enjoy hearing about other people’s lives (which is good, considering I became a social worker). People are interesting. Why do people love eavesdropping so much? Why do people sit in malls or parks and just watched the people around them? Why do people play that game at restaurants where you look around at the other diners and make up background stories for them? (Incidentally, if you haven’t done these things, you should try them sometime.) Why do media outlets make millions of dollars following celebrities, regardless of their levels of fame? Why does a magazine with the name “People” have over 45 million readers? Because people are interesting.

Now, the real question you’re asking is, if I don’t talk much, why am I starting a blog?

This brings us to the purpose of this blog and the types of entries you can expect to read. First of all, I’m a sports fan. I was born in Chicago so I bleed Cubbie blue, Bear Down, run with the Bulls and commit to the Indian (and the White Sox are fine in a pinch). There will be a healthy dose of sports entries, both Chicago-related and otherwise. When my wife, T, first suggested I start a blog, it was because of a conversation we had related to sports.* I’m also a somewhat-recent father. My son, E, will be having his first birthday in June, which is unbelievable since I could swear we just came home from the hospital last week. I’m sure my son will make quite a few appearances, in addition to entries about my journey learning about what it means to raise a child. There will also be various miscellaneous entries about things I come across in life, somewhat like Seinfeld, except without the whiny voice and bright white sneakers. Finally, especially since it was her idea, T will be involved in this project, as well. I’m going to leave it up to her to decide what she wants to write about and how often, although I will say that she suggested she may write about cooking and baking to at least some degree.

 
I think that’s pretty much it. I’m hoping to put up new entries at least two or three times per week, but we’ll see how things go. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions for topics below.
 
Thanks for reading!

*Actually, it was right after NBA center Jason Collins announced that he was gay, so it was technically more about equality and our society’s attitude towards homosexuality than it was about sports (and this whole thing will almost definitely come up in a later entry). But it was still about sports.

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