Introducing The Kids To The Hawkeyes

Since I have season tickets, I very rarely watch a Hawkeye football game on TV. This year, I’m only going to two games so I’m planning on making more of an effort to catch the games on the tube.

Here is my plan to get them to enjoy the games. For the record, they are 4 1/2 years old right now.

• Food - There has to be some food. Stuff like nachos is good. They know I eat hot dogs at the game so those will definitely be available. Since a lot of the Big Ten games start at 11′ish, it is easy to build food into the game time routine since lunch will naturally fall during the game time.
• T-Shirts - I’m going to be going to the first two games. At one of them, I will pick up special Hawkeye game day t-shirts that the three of us will wear for the games.
• Explain the colors - They need to know which team is the Hawkeyes so they know who to be excited about.
• Narrate the game - They don’t understand the rules at all, but they understand stuff like “Great play” “Touchdown” “Oh no!” “Go Hawks” “HERKY!” We’ll build from there.
• Bring on the toys - I’ll bring some of their favorite toys in the room, that way they have something to distract them during instant replay reviews.
• Let them leave - They will probably get bored before the game is over. I have trouble making it through the games these days with all of the TV timeouts. When they get bored, they can go wander away for a while.
• Let them come back - Unlike the crappy NCAA, if they leave the area to catch some fresh air, they will be allowed back into the game room. That policy will stay in effect until there is an actualy terrorist attack in my living room.

I’m expecting basketball season to be more popular because the general pace of the game is faster, but I’m hoping that we can find a way to make the football games enjoyable this season so that they are excited when I take them to the stadium for the first time in 2008.