Last year I gave up my Sling subscription, and even earlier than that, I ditched the PAC-12 Network package on it. The football situation was grim, and there was no joy in keeping those things around for games I couldn't bear to watch. That was before my alma mater gave us fans a late Christmas present, and hired a new coach who generated a whole lot of buzz, and attracted the most of highly-rated talent in the transfer portal. Will starting over from scratch to create a dream team work? Hard to say. Sometimes it works to throw out all your cards and get dealt a new hand.
For the first time (in I assume ever), the CU spring football game sold out its allotted tickets, and was broadcast on ESPN. Without the TV subscriptions, I suggested we take the kids out to lunch to a sports bar where we knew it would be on. We made a big production of it. We all dressed in CU gear, and chatted with fans at other tables. We got giddy when we saw Coach Prime escorting superfan Peggy to midfield, and helped the 90-something local treasure start the show with a ceremonial kickoff. We tried to hear the TV over the loud restaurant, but until things cleared out a little halfway through, that was tough.
The kids had a blast at the restaurant. Valerie is finally back to an age where she eats with gusto, and tries new things again. Dmitri did great switching between toddler yogurt bites and spoonfuls of grandpa's risotto. I would like to make it a regular thing next fall, going back to places like this on days when the game is on TV. They don't have to be huge football fans like I am, but I would like them to be conversant in the basics of the game and how to have fun in that kind of crowd. And just as soon as Valerie is ready, we want to take her to a game. Maybe it will be this fall, maybe next. She will let us know when it is worth her time to go.
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