Need some help from the MGoBlog Community

Two of my friends (both die hard Wolverine fans/alumni/18 year season ticket holders) have a 7 year old son who plays soccer in the fall as well.  They had to leave at the end of the 4th quarter of the Illinois game last year and missed all the overtimes.  But they had their hand held radio at the soccer game so they knew what was going on.

I would advise going to the soccer game but having a radio with you.   

And take your kid to the games (if you have the cash to do so and live close by)

You can have some quality bonding time with your son and teach him about football not futbol and let him share something you love. 

Or DVR the game. 

Family before football.

You'll see lots of Michigan football games in your life. Who knows, maybe your son will be the 2021 version of Zoltan Mesko.

Step 1. Buy an I pad

Step 2. Buy a sling box

Step 3. Hook that shit up! (wifi enable or air card)

Step 4. Go to ur kids game with the I pad and you are gonna be the coolest guy amongst the other dads... u'll be there for ur son... and hey maybe ur wife will give ya a little slap and tickle for being the greatest dad ever... My work is done here! Good night all!

Grow up is the snarky answer.  Seriously, let's look at the calendar, shall we?

1. I'd be surprised if you have any soccer games in November. That means you actually get to watch four or five games that month, leaving eight games to deal with in September & October.
2. I also think it is fairly likely your kid won't be playing Labor Day weekend (opening day with WMU, Sept. 3.)
3. You also have no conflict with ND & Northwestern being night games, so already, without TIVO or anything else, you will be able to watch seven of the twelve game regular season.
4. This leaves the following games to deal with:

• Sept. 17, Eastern Michigan, 12noon. Soccer is a great excuse to miss this so-called game. You can't seriously mean to tell me that you'd rather watch Eastern Michigan than your son. If so, that's pretty pathetic. Consider it a good thing to TIVO this game . . . that will allow you to fast forward through all the commercials, and prob. part of the game, wasting less of your time.
• Sept. 24, SDSU.
• Oct. 1, Minnesota.
• Oct. 15, MSU.  These three games still don't have an announced start time. Isn't it pretty likely that at least one, if not two of these, is a 4pm start? If so, you only have one or two games in conflict. But you should be able to either watch or listen to SDSU & or Minnesota remotely, or via TIVO, if they have a 12noon kickoff. In the event that MSU is a 12 noon start, make this the one and only game of the season that you miss your kid's game. If you tell your wife, and son, that this is the one Saturday you will miss your son's game, that would probably be ok with them.
• Oct. 29, Purdue, 12noon. This is the last remaining game. There is a strong chance your son's season will be done by then anyway. In the event his season is still going, you either listen to, or TIVO, or watch remotely, this one game.

The last remaining wild card is whether or not you are going to any games. It sure doesn't sound like you have season tickets. I am taking my son (who is playing football on a 93 pound team,) to the Northwestern game. I will miss one weekend of his season to be out of town with a group of alumni I see once a year. And there is a possibility I will take him with me to watch one other game. (prob. Iowa.)

Really, you should be spending time with your son watching Michigan football. Also, I'm curious:  why is he playing soccer instead of football? In our community, the football teams start as young as 6 or 7 years of age. If he plays ball, this will help him understand and appreciate Michigan football even more.  Don't squander the opportunity to spend time with your son.

BTW, just be thankful you don't have to spend time watching figure skating or equestrian events or even worse, ballet. Soccer is at least tolerable. Things could be much, much worse for you, my friend.

During the first game of the year, the thing we're all supposedly counting down to and dying a little inside every day because it's not that time yet, I'll be out sailing on Long Island Sound and enjoying myself even though I'm not watching football, believe it or not.  In fact I'm gonna do a lot of stuff this year on Saturdays, Tivo the games I can't watch live, and not feel a bit emasculated or any less of a fan because of it.  So, my advice: Get over yourself.

I have a similar situation.  But my son has been great at soccer and loves every minute of it.

So I'm coaching.  Again.  (sigh)  I can't take it away from him, and want to be a part of it.

BUT...I have one of the other dads who has agreed to help coach the team.  And I might miss one soccer game to get down to AA.  (I do have season tickets and I live about 2 hours away.)  Like others have said, the schedule works out OK.  And when it doesn't, you just have to work at the full media blackout:

• DVR the game.
•  If it is that important to you to not know the outcome, wear headphones and listen to your iPod.  
• As many have suggested above, there are ways to make the technology work for you now. 

Off here but can't you just shut your phone off and tape the game? That's what I do when I have no other choice.

I see one solution. Secretly buy season tickets for you and your son, tell your wife you are taking him to soccer, but instead go to football every day. It'll be like the Home Improvement where Tim claimed he was taking Mark to the Opera, but they went to the Pistons game. Just dont get caught. Or get caught and tell your wife you were making your son a man and not "soccer player."

Might be of some help.

shouldn't even have to ask the question. Whatever your son does, and your wife shouldn't be forcing him to do something he doesn't want to do, M football should be a distant second to where you'd rather be.

I had a lot of parents try to push their son into youth football thinking they'd make tough kids who really had no desire to participate in any type of contact sport. It doesn't work. Let kids be kids.  And the big thing here I have to ask, does the state of OH even have youth soccer scheduled to conflict with youth fb?

This is full proof ..Make a card board cutout of your son. Stick it out on the field .Your wife can still watch him out on the field, and you and your son can watch Michigan role over whoever they play.. As long as it doesn't rain your good.....GO BLUE! !!!

Get your kid to start practicing kicking a football. Tell him every time you kick you get a chance to score and he won't have any more bruises on his shins. If he excels we have a kicker in 10 years, plus he gets out of a sport he really doesn't love.

If you don't already have a smartphone, get one and you can have the best of both worlds, game and football

Seriously, go to the soccer games. The fact that you have to ask this question saddens me.

As a dad, I can tell you your kid WILL remember if you were or were not at his games.  And if he somehow forgets one day, his mother will be right there to remind him....every single time....for the rest of his natural born life, how his dad put Michigan football before his son.

I recently read a phrase that went something like this:  People won't remember what you said, but they'll always remember how you made them feel.  It goes hand in hand with, "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Speaking from firsthand experience, don't be the dad that either doesn't show up, or shows up and does something other than watch. My dad rarely came to my basketball or soccer games, and when he did, he was part of the booster club so he was running consessions anyway. This habit wasn't restricted to sports. At home the newspaper or an evening nap was infinitely more important than my need for my father's interaction. In my eyes, the answer is simple. At all costs, whether your son is good or not, pay attention to him. Cheer for him, do everything a son needs from his dad. I'm trying my hardest to not repeat my dad's mistakes, with my own son now. I'll be my son's biggest fan when he starts playing sports (he's only 4 and the local stuff doesn't start til age 5) and I'm his biggest fan when he wants to show me what he "invented" with his legos or whatever. M football is a HUGE deal in our house, and he watches the games with me, but we can always hit the DVR and do something else. Just don't be "that dad."

/off my soapbox

As cheesy as it sounds, your son will be grown up before you know it.  If he says that he doesn't want to play soccer anymore, that's a completely different issue, but while he's playing, you should go.  

Again, at the risk of being cheesy, you're not going to regret missing a live telecast of Michigan games.  You may regret missing your son's games. 

You said you "could care less if he plays or not".. Well, if you could care less, then it won't hurt you to go to the game. Now, if you meant "couldn't care less"... Well, you should still go to his games. DVR is nice.

Gotta go to the games... It sucks missing the Michigan games but it just shows your son you will always be there for him. My father ran cross country and his mother came to all of his meets, his father on the other hand never came to one. To this day it still upsets him, that's why he always made it out to all of my games. You got to be a father over being a fan.

...disturbing.

My kids come before anything, (even Michigan Football).  But, the first time my daughter complained becuase she had  to go to soccer practice, nor did she show much enthusiasm in playing in the games, I  decided to not sign her up for the next season!....  I know, what a concept, right?   Bottom line:  Kids are a touch spoiled these days! 

If I were in this position, I'd be having a conversation with the wife! 

Adoption. You'll both be happier.

My Father and I were best friends from the time I was am older teenager onward. I always loved him, but we only became friends when I was older (because I was a pretty bad kid growing up). 

When he died I was devastated and essentially paralysed with the sadness for about 3 months. I couldn't get passed the fact that I was never going to see him again. It has been a little over a year now and I still miss him terribly, but after those first few months I began to realise that he left me with some incredible memories that serve to be the only comfort I have.

Many of those memories were from my early childhood. He was a hard worker (always busy doing something) but always managed to make time for my brothers, sisters and me. Sliding in the winter time, camping in the summer time, hunting in the fall, coaching many of the sports teams my brother and I played on and going to watch those he didn't coach. All of these things he did helped create the bond the two of us shared. Those things made him the most important and influential person in my life.

The question you have to answer is what do you want to be to your son? I had lots of friends growing up whose fathers never went to any of their sporting events, never took them sliding, camping, hunting etc. Those friends all grew up ok, but everyone of them at one time or another told me of how jealous they were as kids of the relationship my father and I had. 

So do you want to be the father whose son wishes his dad was the guy next door; or do want to be the father all the kids in the neighborhood wish were theirs? I know which one I chose.

I'll add one piece of advise my dad gave me when I first had kids (and his father gave him when he had his): Enjoy your kids while they are small because when they get to the point where you think they will be old enough to have fun with, they won't want anything to do with you. 

Good luck with the decision.

If you go to his games and cheer him on like crazy, even if he doesn't wanna play, he'll remember that. Start a tradition of watching the games on dvr with your boy. Make UM football something that brings you two together and doesn't tear you apart. The proverbial Michigan man puts family first, even if it means missing live football games.
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<br>I remember last year I had to go help my brother move out of Chicago on the day of the UM v. ND game. He told me I didn't have to go help him because he knows how big of a fan I am. I went anyway and he was so grateful that I chose helping him over UM football. I wouldn't trade that for anything.
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<br>Even though your son is only 8, he knows what is going on here. I work with kids in 3rd to 7th grade every day, trust me, they're a lot more aware than we think. He will remember this if you skip his games for football

My old man went to every single football,basketball,baseball game, never missed one. Soccer might not be something either of you love - but he loves you and you him.

With TiVO/DVR, it's easy to prioritize.  You may even find that you enjoy the games more by skimming thru commercials and the Quaker Oats Penske Chevrolet Preparation H Tostitos Home Depot halftime show.  I know I do.

I've been doing this for years and actually never watch games live now.  It's been working out great.  Just stay off mgoblog and facebook/twitter so you don't get any score updates and enjoy the time with your son. 

Tivo/DVR it and watch it with your son when you get home.  Just make sure you have the phone off during the game so that way you dont know the score.