F is for Football

I've never been a fall is for football kind of guy. I'm much more prone to spring baseball fever. That said, we've had a few crisp, early fall weekends in a row, so today I got in the seasonal mood and decided to introduce Alastair to the fine American tradition that is college football. Ivy League football, no less!

Emily was working today, so after morning nap the Rush boys ventured across town to the Yale Bowl. Free parking, free staff admission - it was a perfect afternoon adventure for us. No huge investment of time or money, so I knew we could leave whenever we wanted.

Here we are watching Yale v. Cornell. You can see how big the Yale Bowl is. When I was growing up the phone book included instructions in the event that the local nuclear power plant were to melt down. It said to go to the Yale Bowl. I'm not sure that would have been the best idea, but it's a lovely place to watch a game. The crowd looks sparse, but we're looking across to the Cornell side. There were more on the Yale side. Seemed like a nice mix of students, alums, local football fans, and young families. Alastair was by no means the only wee one.

I brought Alastair's lunch. That's a piece of chicken stuck to his lower lip. In the past few days he's started eating out of a bowl without dumping the contents all over the place. During lunch I managed to alternately hold him in my lap and stand him up with a bowl of food on the bleacher. Such a big boy. The game did not distract him from his chicken, kidney beans, green beans, and grapes. Especially not the grapes.

After lunch Alastair started to get a little restless, but there was no one in our row, so he could move around as much as he wanted. Stand up, sit down. Cruise down the row, cruise on back. One wildcard that I hadn't anticpated was the massive amounts of peeling paint on the bleachers. Had to be vigilant, lest he snack on some blue paint chips. Yo Yale, how about a fresh coat?


Alastair seemed to enjoy himself, even if he didn't quite notice that there was a game going on. Everyone sitting around us was very interesting, especially the little boy in front of us. From what I saw of the game neither team looked very impressive...it was a bit of a punting contest. Regardless, it was a win for Team Rush. We left while we were ahead (if not Yale), just before the half.