Ollie Goes to the Game

FATHERS, KIDS AND FANDOM: ADAD MUSES ON THE BOND HE'S BUILT WITH HIS SON THROUGH SPORTS, MUCH LIKE HIS LITERARY FATHER DID WITH HIM

- TAYLOR PLIMPTON

My 7-year-old son and I are in New Jersey, and we're about to witness a miracle.

It is a crisp December day, the sky is Honolulu blue and the Detroit Lions are going to win the game. We cannot know this, of course-in fact my son and I, die-hard Lions fans (is there any other kind?), are pretty damn convinced they're going to lose. Down four points with two minutes left, Detroit is facing fourth-and-inches just shy of midfield against a staunch Jets defense, so it's not looking good. Ollie even says it to me, "They're going to lose, Daddy. They're going to do a dumb pass play and blow it."

What are we even doing here? Why have I brought my young, impressionable son to this gladiators' coliseum, this palace of excess and violence? Behind us, a massive, drunken Jets fan is scowling at us and cursing. Actually, all around us, Jets fans are cursing ("That's bulls---!" "F---ing cheaters!" "You suck, refs! What are you, from Detroit?"), and, at a certain point, my son asks, "Why is everyone using such bad language, Daddy?" 

Yes, this is a strange place to bring a child-and if I'm being honest, football is a strange passion to pass on to someone you love. To assuage the fatherly guilt, I'm forever seeking out teaching moments, and right now, with the Lions about to go down, I'm thinking about spinning loss into a lesson. Though the truth is that, having been a Lions fan since before he could talk, Ollie's well acquainted with loss and all its "lessons."

And then the Lions go ahead and do the exact dumb pass play Ollie thought they would-but somehow, miraculously, it works. Tight end Brock Wright is wide open, catches the ball and thunders down the field for a 51-yard touchdown. Ollie and I cannot contain ourselves: We are jumping up and down and hugging each other and screaming with joy.