Relative Something

It’s the first Monday after a weekend of regular season football games and it has me thinking about my dad. I definitely developed my interest in the sport from my father. This weekend our University of Minnesota Golden Gophers opened their new stadium and I wish he were around to see it. I think he would have approved. When Dad died in 1981, I took responsibility for managing the season ticket account he had for Gopher football. That was the year they moved into the dome in Minneapolis, away from the University campus. I thought Gopher football in the dome was an awful experience. The losing caliber performance of football being offered was only part of the problem. When I finally decided one year not to renew, to just let the tickets go, the University ticket office called us to clarify that it was intentional because, I was surprised to learn, we had been buying these tickets since 1944. My only regret was that I felt my dad wouldn’t have approved.

I have no idea what opinion he would have regarding the golden uniforms they wore for the home opener, but I didn’t care for them. I also wonder what he would have thought about the new guy that the NFL Vikings picked up, Brett Favre, who played most of his carrier for our rival, the Green Bay Packers. Something tells me he would be ok with the guy, but I’m not quite sure about it. You may be able to sense that I truly do miss having him around to watch football games with me. I will always credit him with instilling the passion for enjoying watching all sports, football being chief among them.

It’s not literally accurate, but this song has always felt like it captured the essence of my dad and represents the generations enough that it fits for me…

My Old Man
by Steve Goodman

I miss my old man tonight
And I wish he was here with me
With his corny jokes and his cheap cigars
He could look you in the eye and sell you a car.
That’s not an easy thing to do,
But no one ever knew a more charming creature
On this earth than my old man.

He was a pilot in the big war in the U.S. Army Air Corps
In a C-47 with a heavy load
Full of combat cargo for the Burma road.
And after they dropped the bomb
He came home and married Mom
And not long after that
He was my old man.

And oh the fights we had
When my brother and I got him mad;
He’d get all boiled up and he’d start to shout
And I knew what was coming so I tuned him out.
And now the old man’s gone, and I’d give all I own
To hear what he said when I wasn’t listening
To my old man

I miss my old man tonite
I can almost see his face
He was always trying to watch his weight
And his heart only made it to fifty-eight.
For the first time since he died
Late last night I cried.
I wondered when I was gonna do that
For my old man.

© Copyright 1977 Big Ears Music Inc., Red Pajamas, Inc & Crackin Music Co. ASCAP.