Ben's First Game

During the pep rally on Friday, Dad was out scouting for losers leaving the other Friday games. We felt bad, but we were doing them a favor by taking the tickets off their hands, right? So we ended up with three tickets to Sunday’s games. We told Ben if he acted like a big kid all weekend we would take him to the game on Sunday. It was a struggle, but the closer to game time it got, the better Ben’s efforts were to go. He even did extra chores to “earn” his ticket. The game times were not the best for a four year old, but we persevered and started with another pep rally at 4pm, knowing that tipoff for Kansas wasn’t until nearly 8pm that night. It was a long day, but Ben did so well! A huge thanks to Grandma Lyn and Grandpa David for keeping Miss Ellie! She will get her turn someday, but is at least a year or two away from this kind of adventure.

Ben enjoyed the pep rally okay, but it was far more crowded than Friday, so he was definitely ready to head over to the Texas/Arizona game. He told us he would not choose a team to cheer for, since Kansas wasn’t playing. We convinced him that it was okay to cheer for another team since Kansas wasn’t playing them and he decided to cheer for Texas with us. He tried his best to learn the cheers and mascots of these “new” teams and enjoyed himself watching the score and screaming for the Longhorns. It also gave him the chance to learn a little more about a live game. He had never seen certain parts of the game on TV due to commercials so he was very interested in the time outs and cheer performances. He kept asking when the players would “get those tiny chairs out to take a break”. He also acclimated quite well to all of the buzzers and noises. He was worried going into it that the buzzer would really bother him after his experience with practice, but he did just fine. He got to enjoy cheese nachos and Dippin’ Dots during the first game and thought that was pretty awesome. He could probably live off of concession food if we’d let him. We were sad for the Texas fans that the game ended the way it did. Ben even tried to switch teams he was cheering for in the last minutes as he “wanted to win”, but stuck it out with us and was crushed when Texas lost. He was a little dumbfounded with how they had lost in the last couple of plays and started to worry that Kansas could potentially have the same heartbreak. That is the excitement of March and part of being a basketball fan!

During the break between games we made Ben take a break and walk around. He was doing a quick study on the other team though and wanted to race back to his seat as not to miss anything. The Fighting Illini’s mascot was retired a few years back due to controversy, so they didn’t have a mascot at the game. Ben was baffled that a school would have a team, but not have a man in a costume. He told us that “if they don’t have a man in costume, then they just can’t win”. This would be one of many justifications as to why KU would win.

Ben kept track of Baby Jay the whole time and was thrilled to better learn our players’ names. He wouldn’t always get them right or call the right player the right name, but they sure got praised and scolded by him. His favorite one to say was Markieff and he often got lots of nice comments from Ben. Ben’s favorite player was still “Number Zero” though and he was so excited to see Thomas Robinson on the court. Ben’s favorite thing to yell overall was “Don’t let Illinois win!” He told us that he “was yelling it so it would get in the player’s heads and they would do it.” A close second was yelling, “Defense!” He loved to yell that any time we didn't have the ball. At the very end, he added “Encore!” to his repertoire out of nowhere, but then leaned over and asked, “What does that word mean?” We were just thankful that we had a bunch of friendly well behaved fans around us and that is the only new word he heard that night.

We tried to have many lessons about good sportsmanship and not cheering against the other team or booing, but that was sometimes a hard sell. Part way through the game Ben heard the man next to us clapping at the “wrong time”. We explained that he was cheering for Illinois and that lots of people liked that team too. Ben gave the man the dirtiest look and kept whispering in his direction that he wouldn’t win. Yikes! We have a little superfan on our hands! Later on the man talked to Ben and was very sweet to him. Ben was polite back, but still wasn’t sure how everyone there wasn’t cheering for KU.

The game got very close and Ben kept asking “how far ahead” KU was after every basket. He studied the scoreboard for a long time and was baffled where Mom was getting this “ahead” number every time. Mom explained that it wasn’t on the scoreboard, but was a math problem and you had to look at both numbers and find the difference. That was very exciting to Ben and he was very pleased that Mom was helping him with this information. We are totally training a future nerd! This information made Ben frantic though when the game was close and he was not happy that the difference wasn’t more (he gets that from Dad and his grandparents!). Thankfully, KU pulled ahead and ended up winning by a comfortable margin. The Rock Chalk chant started in the crowd and Ben joined right in. You could tell that he was thrilled all of his “practicing” had paid off so he could participate in this moment. His little excited smile was just priceless!

We talked more to our “new Illinois friends” before leaving and Ben was sure to tell them politely that his team had won (in case they had missed that announcement). Some social etiquette to work on! He was also befriended by a toddler behind us that wanted to touch Ben’s crazy hair and a Kansas fan in front of us that had grandsons Ben’s age and was very impressed he had lasted so long for the game.

It was a fun weekend for us and hopefully it will be a memory that lasts with Ben. He cannot wait until the next game (after he realized that we didn’t already win the championship) and plans to cheer so loud that they will hear him in Texas next week. Brainwashed? Nah!

Rock Chalk!!