Craig's basketball team was playing at the University of Alberta which was the original reason for my trip to Edmonton. It was wonderful to see him again and to meet the guys as well. I enjoyed watching the games.
During the Saturday night game a young boy was sitting beside us with his parents (or grandparents, I'm not too sure). At first I thought he was the cutest thing; he sang along with the national anthem despite not knowing all of the words and cheered enthusiastically for the Golden Bears. However, I soon found the incessant screaming to be a little more than my left ear could handle. But really, I kept telling myself, to see that degree of enthusiasm for sport from such a young boy was wonderful. Until, of course, the Vikes caught up and began to pull ahead. At that point the cheering consisted of violent screaming at the referees: "YOU REFS ARE CHEAP! CHEAP! FIVE CENTS CHEAP!!" (Can someone explain what "five cents cheap" means or where it could have come from?) This continued until the older man (father/grandfather - we've already been through this) shushed him and said that he just didn't understand the game fully yet and the refs were not being cheap, they were just trying to do their job. Now I will be the first to admit that there were some shady calls made in that game, but for the most part they were not in favour of Victoria. But there's no reasoning with a 4-year-old. This attempt did not calm the boy down as was the intention...although the screaming did stop the tears began to flow at the unfairness of this game and probably the world in general. He cried that the refs were cheap and that he didn't want to watch anymore. He wanted to go home. I wanted him to go home too. Or just go scream in someone else's ear.
1 comment:
Ha!!!!! I love that story... children wear it all on their sleeve hey? (and apparently in your ears) Well at least we know that the world will never be short of die-hard fans, even at the age of 4.
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