This past weekend, my wife and I took our 10 month old son (ok, 11 months old tomorrow) to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
I hadn’t been to The Hall since I was little, probably younger than 12 at my best guess. No matter which exhibits had been added since I was there, they all felt brand new to me over 20 years later. I knew I would be impressed by the presence of greatness and great achievements that The Hall would present in walking around the treasured hallways. What I didn’t expect was how many times I found myself saying out loud ‘Whoa’ or ‘Wow’ after reading a particular stat or summary of a record performance.
There were so many amazing items that I could have easily spent two days reading everything and taking it all in. I highly recommend going to Cooperstown in the fall considering the summer months are when it is at its busiest. The place was lightly populated for a Sunday afternoon, however, those fans that were there were consumed with the sheer giddiness a place like The Hall provides a fan of any age. Most of us fell in love with the game as kids and when you are around the greatest to ever play the game, that same kid can’t help but come back again and be mesmerized by your childhood heroes once again.
My son has now attended The Hall for the first of many visits. I plan on taking him to a baseball game every single year. The Cubs have basically adopted him as one of their own just as I have set a positive example (I like to think) of what it is to be a Cubs fan. The opportunity to present him, even at this young age, with all of his options in MLB-land of teams to choose to dedicate his life’s loyalty, was to tempting to pass up. While I can tell that even at this young age, he’s leaning towards following through on the path that seems to be his destiny- rooting for the Cubs – I was curious to see what fans of other teams would say to him when presented two questions.
1) Why should my son dedicate his entire life to rooting for your favorite team? Your best reasons.
2) Why shouldn’t he root for the Cubs?
I believe in tradition and families rooting for the same team all together, however I also realize that it means more for the decision to be made after having all the information. Now granted, he isn’t even a year old yet…but it’s never too early to introduce the game of baseball and get him going on backing a team.
With the way the Cubs have treated him in his short time as a baby Cubs fan (a Cubs cub?), there’s no chance he won’t return the loyalty and sentiment once he can talk and understand what it is exactly that he is rooting for and what it is that he’s a part of.
Still, I couldn’t help but be curious as to what fans of other teams would say when given the platform to convince him to choose otherwise.
The results are here for you to enjoy…I’d love to hear your thoughts! (Especially those from Cubs fans interested in putting further reason out there to convince him he is on the right path with our team on the North Side!!) Go Cubs Go!
Prose and Ivy 