Football

Ok - so I have to post about Zachary's Saturday morning football practice. I'd post photos but have no way to do that since that P.O.S. for a computer is back at Toshiba. Anyway, they decided to teach the kids to scrimmage - flag football style. Meaning - no tackling, just "2-handed touch". Yeah right - they are 4-5 year olds - tackling is their hobby. So Zachary being a pretty big 5 year old is set as the (nose) tackle (?) - where he's trying to get to the quarterback through the center. Unfortunately for the center, he's half Zachary's size but says "I can do it - I want HIM!". So Mike and I think "Wow! That kid's another Rudy!" (you know, from the movie "Rudy"). The ball gets snapped, the kid grabs hold of Zachary's shirt (ok, that's holding but tell that to a 4 year old), Zach tries to push him off, so the kid holds on tighter. So my sweet, loving son - in the spirit of football, mind you - grabs hold of the kid by the shoulders and slams him to the ground, jumps over him and runs to get the running back. The center is laying on the ground crying, mom is horrified, dad says "welcome to football", Zachary says "Huh, I got you", and the coach says "get up son - there's no crying in football". I was a bit freaked out - but the dad of the kid told him pretty much the same thing and told me this was "what football was all about". Alrighty then. After that play, the coach decided that Zachary was such a good runner he'd try him at running back. That child ran like he was being chased by a pack of wild animals and scored 2 touchdowns. Of course, it did help that the kids would get mad at one another and tackle each other rather than let the kid in the lead catch him! Zach was so excited though he never did his end-zone dance that he's been perfecting, he just said "Hey Mom! I scored!" - Mike about choked and the guy next to him said (while laughing hysterically) "Yup, looks like it's just inbred into them to thank mom!". I thought about saying (but didn't) "Hey moron - guess it has to do with all that morning sickness, weight gain, swollen hands/feet, labor, breastfeeding for a year, being tinkled/poohed/thrown-up on - not to mention the many times of being up all night when he's sick, countless doctor visits, middle of the night emergency room runs, and on and on and on!". Ah well - Zachary did at least come over and get a "high-five" from dad. And Mike's chest certainly was all puffed up with pride afterwards. Ya gotta love football - the male-bonding experience begins early! LOL!