Daddy and the Doctor: Week 4: The World Series, CrossFit, Halloween, and a Little Lamb

Sunday, November 2nd, 2014

So I lied in the first blog. This is a REALLY long blog, and I talk a lot about sports in this one, so if you are not into sports, scroll down to the Halloween section.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE sports fan, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that Grant also becomes a huge sports fan, and hopefully a fan of the same teams that I am a fan of. I am a Notre Dame football and basketball fan, and I always have been, even before I went there for college. My grandfather went there, my dad went there, three of my uncles went there, all of my brothers went there, and almost all of my cousins have either gone there or to Notre Dame's sister college, Saint Mary's College. So it is no surprise that I was a Fightin' Irish fan since before I can remember. As for my favorite professional teams, they all hail from Boston. My family moved to a southern New Hampshire town when I was four years old, and because the small state of New Hampshire doesn't have any professional sports teams, and the town I grew up in was only an hour north of Boston, it was only natural that I began to follow and love the teams from Boston. I am a passionate fan of the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, and the Boston Celtics...and probably in that order. My wife, Katie, is also a big sports fan, but she is more selective with the teams that she follows. She is a die-hard Florida State football fan because she went there for college. She doesn't really follow professional football, even though she grew up in Miami and a lot fo her friends are big time Dolphins fans. She also loves the professional basketball team, the Miami Heat. Her favorite player is LeBron James, and even though she was sad to see him leave the Heat, he is still her favorite player. She is not a fan of college basketball or Major League Baseball either, so I have no competition with the Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, or Notre Dame basketball when it comes to raising Grant and teaching him what teams to root for. You already saw some of his Notre Dame and Florida State outfits from the Week 2 blog, but we have already started him early with some other sports outfits.

We do live in Virginia, so there is the chance that Grant might pick different teams to root for. I am pretty sure that he will be a Notre Dame and Florida State fan until he goes to college and falls in love with his school's team. However, as far as professional sports go, there is a big chance that he could grow up to be a Washington Nationals and Redskins fan, or possibly a Baltimore Orioles and Ravens fan. Those cities and teams are a lot closer to where we live than the teams from Boston and Miami. Additionally, most of his friends growing up will probably be fans of those teams, making those teams more appealing to him than my teams from Boston.

I bring up the topic of sports because I think it is a very cool idea to chronicle the different champions during Grant's life. The World Series just ended on Wednesday night in dramatic fashion, with the San Francisco Giants beating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 7. It is the Giants' third World Series win in the past five years, while it was the first time the Royals had made it to the postseason since their 1985 World Series win, a playoff drought of 28 years. Whenever I don't really care about a team, I usually root for the underdog, and the underdog was definitely the Royals. Throughout my entire life up to this point I had only ever known the Royals as a bad team that always finished with a losing record and near the bottom of the standings. So it was cool to see them almost win a championship. Grant, only being three and a half weeks old, was not very interested in the game. He was too busy feeding to watch the exciting bottom of the 9th inning, when the Royals got a guy to third base with two outs, 90 feet away from tying the game and sending it to extra innings, before the Giants recorded the championship-clinching out. Katie does not know or care about many MLB players, but she LOVES the Giant's catcher, Buster Posey, because he went to FSU and she thinks he is adorable. Below are pictures of the Giants' reactions to winning, and Grant's reaction to the Giants winning.

Meanwhile, my team, the Boston Red Sox, just finished a 3-year stretch of going from last place, to first place World Series Champions, to last place again this year. I believe that is the first time in MLB history that a team has gone from worst, to first, to worst in a 3-year span. Maybe that just means that the Red Sox will be first again next year. Here's to hoping!

Another sport that I have grown to love is CrossFit. Watching the CrossFit games on TV is pretty cool...some of those men and women are just ridiculous athletes. I joined a CrossFit gym at the beginning of the year, and I will definitely be sticking with it for the foreseeable future. I hope that once Grant gets old enough to start working out that he will join me at CrossFit. But for now, bringing him in and showing him off to all of my workout buddies will suffice. And yes, that is a kettlebell onesie that Grant is wearing. And the last one is of Grant flexing in his sleep...already practicing showing off for the ladies.

It was also Halloween this week. We got Grant a Little Lamb Halloween costume. Anyone who knows Katie knows that one of her favorite things to do is identify people as little lambs. It is a term conferred upon people who have one of, but not necessarily all of, these attributes: little, gentle, sweet, awkward, innocent, nerdy, or nervous. For example, sometimes we will be watching Jeopardy, and there are often contestants who are a little awkward, nerdy, or nervous...and sometimes all three. When they nervously stutter through an answer or a fun fact about themselves, Katie will often refer to them as little lambs. Katie has also referred to Grant as a little lamb, mainly because he is so small and fragile, so when she found an infant lamb costume, she just had to buy it for Grant. Katie and I spent Friday evening with this little lamb passing out candy to all the Trick-or-Treaters who came to our door.