This is a little out of order but I was reminded that when I was
starting high school some of my friends were getting into football
and I wanted in on a sport that had a basically unlimited roster. I
asked and then begged my dad to play and he flatly refused. He told
me that I needed to focus on school, which must have been a joke
because he cared nothing about my education. He had not asked about
grades, homework or any of my extra curricular activities ever, which
is a long time when compared to his sudden interest in my academics
when he thought it could countermand my desire to participate in
sports. I showed him all of my grades for the previous year and that
they were all A's excepting a single 'B' outlier. He had, of course,
not really been concerned with my grades so he said the real reason I
was not going to be allowed to play sports was that I would burden my
mother in having to drive me back and forth to practice and games. I
resolved that concern by letting him know there was a carpool for the
kids from our town and my mom would only drive once a week. He was
getting tired of having his excuses negated so he finally just told
me that football, which he had played, was a stupid game for stupid
people and I was not going to play. I was mad but somehow still under
the sway of his will and respected his wishes not to play. I did go
out to practice a couple of times because many of my friends were
playing and I had nothing to do so I would watch practice while the
coaches would ask what I was doing and if I wanted to play. I had to
tell them that I was not allowed and I would just hang out observing
the horrors of wind sprints. My dad's firm stance on his children was
relaxed from an ultimatum to acquiescence for my younger brother and
it further morphed into full blown fanaticism for my youngest
brother. All this from a guy who didn't want me burdening the family
with sport.
