As a young boy I was a sports fanatic. It didn’t matter whether it was football, basketball, baseball or ski jumping if it was sports related I was into it. That was back in the day before ESPN trotted out-wall to-wall coverage of every sporting event in the world with analysis 24/7 & 365.
In my youth on fall Saturday afternoons we had one or two college football games to watch and Sunday brought selected NFL contests. During the winter a few choice college basketball games were broadcast and if you were lucky enough to have cable you could catch a Cubs Baseball game on WGN during spring and summer. To get any kind of info on more obscure sports, such as alpine Skiing, you turned to The Wide World of Sports and Mr. Jim McKay on Saturday afternoons. That was about it.
Because of this scarcity of coverage relative to today’s offerings, televised sporting events were precious and kind of a big deal. I loved watching those big games with my dad and in fact those times provided some of my fondest and most exciting childhood memories. My Dad and I watched together the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 when the US Hockey team defeated the Russian Giant. We both went nuts when Doug Flutie lofted his Hail Mary pass to Gerard Phelan to whip the Miami Hurricanes 47-45 and we jumped for joy when Lorenzo Charles’ of NC State jammed home his last second dunk to defeat mighty Phi Slamma Jamma from the University of Houston for the NCAA Basketball Championship and memorialize Jimmy Valvano forever. Now when I see a replay of those moments I smile and fondly recall sharing these bits of history with my Pop many years ago.
The special memories are even sweeter today because I am now capturing similar moments with my son. He is 7 and a huge sports fan. Living in Austin, Texas we root for the Longhorns (hold the jokes, they’ll be back). We also pull for the Carolina Gamecocks who was my favorite team growing up. Historically the Gamecocks have epitomized mediocrity. Sporting a rabid fan base and huge expectations their athletic teams have mostly disappointed. Think the Cleveland Browns.
But this year was different. It started with the baseball team, they won the College World Series and brought the University of South Carolina it’s first National Championship EVER! I waited 43 years for that one. And Walker and I watched every fabulous pitch together!
The football team continued the excitement by knocking off the hated Florida Gators and winning the SEC East Division Championship. This was another 1st in school history. Walker and I watched that together as well, it was delightful to see his excitement as he ran around the house high-fiving his little brother and sister who weren’t quite sure what was going on.
Even though they are just games and not of super cosmic consequence, rooting for our teams has taken on special meaning because we do it together. And as the younger siblings grow I fully intend to indoctrinate them into the Longhorn and Gamecock fan club.
This week at DadLabs we are giving away a Logitech Harmony One remote as well as a Logitech Revue with Google TV. Walker and I have been trying them out and they are super cool. Check out this link for the details: http://www.dadlabs.com/blog/2010/12/03/logitech-giveaway-universal-remote-revue-wgoogle-tv-1216/
Logitech Revue with Google TV
But the main reason I am nostalgic is because my Dad just arrived in town for the Holiday’s and we are going to be able to make a little family history. On New Years Eve three generations of Powell’s will sit down and root for the Carolina Gamecocks as they take on the Florida State Seminoles in the Peach Bowl. We will do it together. Go Cocks!
