NFL conference championships are today. I’m sorry but there’s no way they can live up to last weekend’s epic games. The playoffs are the only times I watch football these days. As a NY Giants fan, my interest in the NFL has been an inverse SPY chart for the past decade. But my kids were born in SF and I live in the Bay Area so we’ll be rooting for the Niners in the Battle for California.
Recently, my 8-yr-old, Zak is into watching sports and understanding them. Fanhood is a special form of tribalism with roots that reach back into our childhoods. It’s interesting to be aware that watching the game today can later be a source of deep nostalgia. I care about the game on the off chance that it is exactly that for him.
If your kids like sports it’s a great teaching opportunity too.
This week he and I started making futures-style bets on Warrior players’ stats, for $1 a point. For example, against Minnesota, I bet Steph would score over 27 points. He scored 29, so I won $2.
Since my son got crushed in that game (he took the over on Kuminga scoring 15), he did research before proposing bets on last night’s Nets/Warriors game. Which of course was my secret objective the whole time.
(Steve, you’d be so proud, Zak came back asking about PER since GP II is one of the highest on the Dubs. Zak loves how he plays).
Go enjoy the games, and if you watch with kids, make it spicy!
I wrote about the roots of my own fanhood a couple years ago:
✍🏽 “Sportsball” (2 min read)