Day Two: Fatherhood Means a Major Shift in Perspective

Over the weekend, my wife and I were thrilled to learn that we will be welcoming our first child.  We’ve been married for over two years, so the fact didn’t necessarily come as a surprise.

It certainly adds a tidy new wrinkle to my project.

At this point, we expect that the baby is about 3-5 weeks along.  If we calculate out to the end, we’re looking at about a mid-April due date; our pregnancy falls directly in line with my attempt to go a Year Without Football.

I’ve always figured myself as a family man, and so far I’ve pretty met all of my unofficial, internal deadlines growing up.  I wanted to be married by the age of 27, and I wanted to have a family settled by age 30.  I’ve been pretty good at setting and achieving goals.  In Catholic school, I swore to win an Easter raffle for a 5lb. Nestle Bar.  It was a raffle, and I worked to buy more than half the tickets on the final day (The bar lasted about 4 months and had to be stored on top of our refrigerator).  In college, I committed that I would work in hockey broadcasting so that I could spend an entire day with the Stanley Cup and, in a roundabout way, that happened my rookie season in the pros (I’ll tell that story later in the year.)

The one thing I’ve heard from friends and family is, “Your life is gonna change forever!”  I heard this when I graduated high school, when I got my college degree, when I moved to California, when I got married, and when I decided to pursue a teaching career.  Maybe my life has “changed forever” enough to the point that it doesn’t stun me like some intend.

Looking at the short term and more relevant to the medium, I didn’t experience too much on the first day of football.  Aside from a few generic “FOOTBALL’S BACK!” status updates on Facebook, I did well enough avoiding the Hall of Fame game.  I have no idea what the final score was, how many receptions either Bengals’ star receivers  pulled down or how long any of the main starters played for.

I did catch highlights of Toronto’s near no-hitter, bewildered that the home official scorer wouldn’t give the pitcher the benefit of doubt and score an error in the 9th instead of a base hit.  We sat with my wife’s grandparents and caught the end of the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen (LOOK OUT, LEFT TURNS!!!) as well, so I felt like I got my fill of sports for the day.

I definitely spent more time on the phone with friends and family discussing our new addition this weekend.  My worry concerning this website is I’ll come across being relieved that the baby means I won’t have time to watch sports anymore.  Far from it…my connection with the games we play and the moments we elevate as a culture are part of a heritage that I’m committed to pass down to the next generation of Rossiters.

Tomorrow, I’ll delve into how my father’s connection to New York sports legend helped steer me down my eventual path.

Thanks for reading; things just got VERY interesting.

DR