dilemma-crisis-or-maybe nothing

[Alaskan Ram]

My 6 year old boy likes the Magnets...and I'm not sure if I should try to cure him.

Let me start at the beginning.

I'm not the type that believes children should be baptized into any religion at a young age. But, yet....somewhat hypocritically, the first thing I bought for him before he was born was some Ram Onesies.

I didn't get "heroinesque " addicted to football until I was 8 years old. Rams vs. Steelers in the 1980 Suberbowl. I've bled Rams ever since.

I've tried to get my boy to watch football with me since he was born.

The first real interest he's ever shown was this year....He and I betting on games.
He's competitive.
He won't root for the team I'm rooting for, and he doesn't really know the rules. He just knows which team is ahead on the scoreboard, and takes that team.

So this season runs its course....until last week's playoff game....Colts (or as he calls them, Mag-i-nets) and the Broncos.

Mommy went to work, and he and I are on the couch, and he WANTS to watch football with daddy.

Game hasn't started yet. Zero to Zero. This bet is about to get real.

He chooses the Magnets, and I choose the Broncos. This is after he's diagnosed the evidence that my team has the best QB in the world, and his team only has the 2nd best QB in the world.

During the Game he trying to figure out points. Asking what the "yellow" line is.
I'd throw in subtle rules...."ha ha, your team has to punt"......
He started to get what the yellow line was for.

When Broncos went up 7-0, he wanted to switch teams. After all, I put 13 dollars down on the table, and winner was getting that money.

I told him I wanted to switch, because the Magnets were probably going to win even though they were behind.

He decided to stick with his magnets and number 12.

The rest of the game went the way it went, and he was a trash talkin fool.......I can say I wasn't impressed, but very proud.

I'm not sure what my question is here........
Tomorrow he's taking his Magnets over the Pats.

I have to pretend to root for the Pats so that his Magnets win of course. He did use his 13 dollars he'd won last week to buy us lunch..."on him" as he put it.

Should I let him be free and have his new team?
Or should I let this thing ride for rest of season only, and then tweak his "religion"....

Go Rams!

 

[SierraRam]

Should I let him be free and have his new team?
Or should I let this thing ride for rest of season only, and then tweak his "religion"....

Let him go. The Magnets are beginning a run of playoff appearances that could last a decade.

The only rule I consider mandatory: Once you choose - that's it! For better or worse (as we all know too well)

 

[Alaskan Ram]

Let him go. The Magnets are beginning a run of playoff appearances that could last a decade.

The only rule I consider mandatory: Once you choose - that's it! For better or worse (as we all know too well)

Sometimes the correct answers aren't what we want to hear, but best in the long run. I too was afraid of this. There must be a loop hole we aren't considering.

 

[FRO]

If he were a Patriots, Seahawks, or 49er fan you would/should intervene. Since he is a fan of the Colts you should let him go and choose his own team.

 

[mr.stlouis]

Let him go. The Magnets are beginning a run of playoff appearances that could last a decade.

The only rule I consider mandatory: Once you choose - that's it! For better or worse (as we all know too well)

This is just me, but going to the Playoffs consistently means slightly more than nothing. All that matters is winning the Super Bowl. If you do good every year but never win it all, who cares? See Buffalo's run of Super Bowl appearances that netted no SB rings. Just one would have made all the difference.

And teaching a kid to bet? I'm leaving that to you.

 

[-X-]

Should I let him be free and have his new team?
Or should I let this thing ride for rest of season only, and then tweak his "religion"....

Go Rams!

Let it ride now so that he gains a better understanding of the game and rules. Then in the off-season you have to pump him full of knowledge about the Rams, their history, the players who used to be 'magnets' (Faulk) but left to have more success with the Rams, etc. It'll teach him lessons in humility, loyalty, and he'll gain massive coping skills too. lol. If you want to cater to his love of magnets, you can always get a bunch of Rams magnets (car decals, etc) and that should sate his needs.

 

[fearsomefour]

My son came out of the womb taking the opposite side of nearly everything thing I liked/voted for/said.
At 6 he would try to tell me how to train the dog....at 10 he would try to tell me the right way to build a garden box....ect..
I think when he was in the nursery at the hospital he saw me and thought "who's that Dbag?".
Anyway, it would occasionally cause friction. I tried to get him to be a Rams fan....no dice. His first two years of playing pop warner football he played for the Lions and the Steelers....those became and are still his teams to this day. I wonder if it would have been different if the Rams won their title a couple years later when he was just old enough to get it.
Anyway, it all worked out. I am a Rams fan because my dad was a Rams fan and his dad was a Rams fan. All good runs come to an end. The biggest difference there was probably being able to go to games as a kid. That sealed it for me.
Anyway, despite being very different we are very close. The whole teams thing is fun but is a tiny part of life.
Go Rams.

 

[rhinobean]

At this time I say, "go magnets"! Next year you can go back to making him a Rams fan.

 

[Boffo97]

Am I the only one who saw that title and assumed it was the spam bot again?

No offense, AR...

 

[-X-]

Am I the only one who saw that title and assumed it was the spam bot again?

No offense, AR...

Almost. It was just missing the word Minoxidil.

 

[SierraRam]

This is just me, but going to the Playoffs consistently means slightly more than nothing.

Sorry, gotta disagree. When I was @Alaskan Ram 's sons age, the Rams ruled the NFC West. This led to bitter disappointment in the playoffs against the Vikings and Cowboys, but the Rams were respected and feared by all! It made our win 1999 that much sweeter.

If I were born in the last 15 years, I wouldn't be a Ram fan.... unless somebody forced me

 

[RamFan503]

I relied on osmosis. My sons were pretty casual football fans until they got out of HS. Their school teams were pretty bad and pop Warner and pee wee football around here isn't much either. Not sure why but after High School they each started to get more into football. It was probably that my oldest went off to the original OSU (take THAT Den and Dag) and just being at a Pac 12 school means you pretty much have to follow football at the college level. I used the SJax angle and bought him and myself a #39 jersey. Having Johnny come to the Rams and be so fun to watch hasn't hurt. Along with that and the fact that he can't help but know more about the Rams and their history than any other team (by a long shot), he became a Rams fan and is on his way to being forever locked in. My youngest started following football when he decided he was going to go to U of O. It was and is all about the Ducks. He's a Rams fan but much more casual about it than my oldest. As I said, he is a Rams fan by osmosis. I don't think he cares that much about the NFL but he calls himself a Rams fan. I'll take it.

 

[CodeMonkey]

I get it. At this point I'm rooting for Andrew Luck and the magnets to take it all as well. Hey, you are sweating this way too much! It's great that he and you are both into football and have that to share.

 

[RamFan503]

Am I the only one who saw that title and assumed it was the spam bot again?

No offense, AR...

The first line of the thread didn't keep me from thinking it either.

 

[RamFan503]

Almost. It was just missing the word Minoxidil.

That and it was just a bit too coherent.

 

[Selassie I]

@Alaskan Ram

Dude... I feel for you man. I have 3 sons and one of them somehow turned into a Magnet fan too. You may have heard me say this before,,, but I make him sleep outside.

My other 2 sons are fine young men. Do what you can now to save your boy.