This is going to be a little more topical than I usually get, but it’s one of those rare instances where I feel strongly enough about something to risk it. Warning! Actual current events and stuff ahead! Plus opinions!

Yesterday the US women’s hockey team played Canada in the final game to determine who got gold and who got silver medals in Sochi. In the last few minutes of the game the Americans lost their 2-1 lead and ended up in overtime, where they lost. They were really, really bummed. Most of them looked upset during the (immediately-following-the-game) medal ceremony. Some of them visibly cried, wiping their eyes on their jerseys as they accepted second place. This morning there was discussion on ever morning show  I watched about whether or not these women were “poor sports” because they weren’t jumping for joy over their silver medals.

Let me answer that question in one word: No.

You know who else cries when they lose? MALE ATHLETES. Tom Brady crying has it’s own Tumblr. Peyton Manning looked sad and upset all through his (horribly played) Super Bowl game this year. And while some people may make fun of them (oh noes, men don’t cry!) they certainly don’t act like being upset over losing a sporting event is somehow unreasonable. And no one ever tells the loser of the Super Bowl “Hey, you should be THRILLED with second place!”

But in women’s sports, we often focus more on playing nice than winning. And even if you do win, don’t think about celebrating it too loudly. That’s unlady-like and you might hurt the other team’s feelings. You should just be proud of doing your best.

Excuse me, but f**k that. Being a poor sport is refusing to shake the winning team’s hand. Or walking out of the award ceremony. Or cheating, which is something that happens all the time in pro (spoken: men’s) sports. Or swearing and shouting at the other team. Being sad you lost in the minutes RIGHT AFTER your loss is human. This was the Olympic games. The LAST chance some of these women will get to play with their whole country cheering for them – or even play in a widely televised game because last time I checked the NHL didn’t include many ladies.

If it was my daughter on that rink I would have been crying right along with her. I want both my children to know they’re allows to feel upset or sad and that there’s no shame in expressing those emotions in reasonable ways. Throwing your helmet? Breaking your stick? Hitting people? (Alllll of which happens in football almost on a weekly basis…)  Not OK. Crying because you’re disappointed in your own performance? TOTALLY OK. The American team’s sadness has nothing to do with the Canadian team’s joy. I’ve seen or read absolutely zero interviews where any of the US women’s team talked about anything beyond their dedication to the sport and how proud they are of making it the Olympics.

This morning my daughter cried because her flashlight stopped working. I told her I understood her feelings and hugged her and told her we could look for some new batteries. I certainly didn’t ridicule her or call her a poor sport. A few minutes later I cried when a shelf in the kitchen collapsed, shattering half my dishes and scaring me out of my mind. Luckily there was no one here to tell me to suck it up because at least the other half of my dishes was OK. Emotions are complicated, sometimes unwelcome, and often impossible to control. Think about the last time you cried and whether or not you would want that broadcast worldwide for everyone to judge on the occasion’s worthiness and how sportsman-like it seems.

Good job, ladies of the US Olympic hockey team. I’m proud of you and I wish I could give you a hug.

Late. As of this morning my productivity/desire to write stuff on the internet seems to be back (you know it is when you actually consider commenting on a post on Jezebel) so hopefully my blog won’t totally fade away.

Sunday:

Important blizzard food: hot dogs and eggs.

I still think playing football in the snow/freezing cold is crazy

That’s how Sundays make me feel too

Monday:

Sheet washing day is also bed bouncing day

Santa baby

They ask me to take this picture during every bath

Tuesday:

In my first few weekly iPhone pics, Evan could only reach the bottom row. (And Caroline was an inside baby)

The fox is unimpressed with the rays

Technically that was Wednesday, but it didn’t feel any different. Unimpressive, 2014.

Wednesday:

These people are playing HOCKEY outside in the snow. EVEN CRAZIER THAN FOOTBALL.

Princess/Engineer Tiana

More baby photos. I love baby photos.

Thursday:

Earning his keep

Mark it in the baby book: First time I showed up at preschool pick up in ACTUAL pajamas.

(Fake) sleeping with the (fake) cat whiskers

Friday:

BFFs

Ancient iPod is ancient

She’s like 80% legs

Saturday:

Baby toys are fun when they belong to other people

Ignoring the donut holes, eating all the strawberries

We had warm weather today before the POLAR VORTEX hits us tomorrow, so we went outside and ran as many errands as possible. Tomorrow I’m hoping to put all our hot chocolate, throw blankets  and Disney movies to good use (although so far the kids still have regular school).

When I went to Boston a couple weeks ago for the Red Sox family focus group thing, one of the ideas we bloggers had was an earlier, kid-friendly game. Activities for the kids, cheap food, and maybe a big sign that says “WARNING: CHILDREN’S SECTION” so no one gave us dirty looks when our kid talked through the whole thing. It turns out that’s already an event, called Futures at Fenway, and the team generously offered us tickets so we could attend. I wasn’t sure we’d last the whole 9 innings and I was pretty sure I’d spend most of my time walking around with a very bored 2-year-old and I wouldn’t see much of the game, but I love love love Fenway so we made plans to go anyway.

It turns out my children LIKE baseball. OK, maybe they mostly like popcorn and peanuts and giant sodas ($7.50 plus free refills! Best deal ever!) and getting to sit in my lap. But that translated into watching the whole 8 1/2 innings (We won!) from our seats. I didn’t even have to resort to letting them watch Disney Jr on my phone. It was a good game too – it wasn’t the Red Sox, but the Sea Dogs, their affiliate team. That means these guys are still hoping to get noticed by the major leagues and so they try really, really hard. They run even if it looks like an easy out at first, they FLING themselves across the field for diving catches, they strike out instead of always taking the walk. It was exciting! It was tons of fun! It was a long day for a 2.5 year old and there might have been a tiiiiiiny bit of whining and crying but it was one of the best family days we’ve ever had. I felt relaxed almost the whole time – and when was the last time I said that about a summer afternoon at a crowded public event with two small children?

I was going to write a whole paragraph about how sports – even just a vague awareness that your grandfather really loved golf, explained you ball data and made you watch it on TV in the summers when you were visiting – can mean a lot to a kid. But there seems to be a lot of dust in here and my eyes are, uh, watering quite a bit, so I’ll just say I hope Evan and Caroline have great memories of our visits to Fenway and that we can make it a summer tradition.

p.s. The event had a TON of stuff that was kid friendly – the zoo and the aquarium had animals there, Kidz Bop did a concert after the game and a meet-and-greet, the players signed autographs, a bounce house – plus the concessions were half priced. We enjoyed the eating and the bounce house, but the kids did so great in our seats we didn’t really NEED all the distractions. I would highly recommend it for families.

Disclaimer: The PR team for the Red Sox left us tickets at will-call so we could attend. No other compensation was provided. Tickets for the event started at just $5, so trust me when I say they didn’t pay for me to talk about the event. 

Right before the kids and I took off for our road trip, I got an email that said “Boston Red Sox Invite You to a Game at Fenway Park” in the subject line. I almost, almost deleted it, since obviously it must be spam. I am so very glad I didn’t.

I have no idea how I ended up on a list of “thought leaders” in New England, but because they stumbled over my blog somehow the marketing department for the Red Sox invited me and my family up to the park for a tour, a game and a focus group to talk about what would make us more likely to come back.

The whole thing was so professional, I almost cringe at the fact I even there. I wore flip flops and brought my four year old. No one else had their kid there (I asked! They said beforehand it was OK!) and he was kind of…a four year old. There was an agenda and a white board and notepads.  It was a small group. There was a seat marked with my name and blog name on a printed and branded place marker. They had individual bottles of Perrier for us while we chatted about family events at Fenway and their Kid Nation program. Perrier is way above my class level. It was 90 degrees and my Spanx were the only thing keeping me from literally melting into a puddle on the floor, but there I was, unable to shut up. I ramble when I’m nervous (shocking, I’m sure) and in the moment my brain seemed to think all my ideas were BRILLIANT. Gah. Gaaaaaaaaah.

Luckily I must not have totally embarrassed myself, since they sent a follow up email and invited us back to the Futures at Fenway event coming up in July. At the focus group we discussed in detail what sort of things we’d like to see at a family day event…and then POOF! Turns out that event is ALREADY SCHEDULED. And has been for the past eight years. I probably should have known about that already. Oops?

The real best part of the whole thing was the ballpark tour. I’m not the world’s greatest Red Sox fan (and if you are, feel free to hate me for being invited to this thing when you weren’t), but I am a huge nut about history and Fenway is all about history. Getting to walk around the park when it was empty, visit all the fancy and private levels, see the framed jerseys going all the way back to the very first one with actual red socks printed on it…it was amazing. Especially because I got to bring E and Evan. I choked up a little just editing my photos from the day – they don’t get to spend a lot of time together doing father-son stuff, but what can be a better memory than Evan’s first trip to Fenway? Magical, for real.

Look at that empty, empty field!

There are vintage-style and exposed brick signs everywhere in the park. I love the way they make it FEEL like a historic place.

Some of the fancy memorabilia in the uber-swanky season ticket holder club.

So, so, so, SO many food choices in the park.

I had to bribe him with one of those smooshed pennies to sit next to Wally.

The view from on the field.

Discussing batting practice.

Hello Rockies. Sorry not sorry you lost this game!

Watching the actual game (we only got to stay a few innings)

Delivered right to my seat, hot and delicious

I’m a little obsessed with the way the light-up boards for the scores and stats all use green backgrounds, so they match the rest of the stadium. Plus the graphics have fake drop-shadows, so they look just like the old hand-operated score board (That they still use! There are guys in there!)

PACKED stadium on a Tuesday night!

Goodnight Fenway! See you again soon!

Despite CLAIMING to be not-so-domesticated on the internets, Hannah of Peggy Ann Design sure knows her way around a sewing machine. Her aprons are so gorgeous they make me want to bake stuff just so I have an excuse to wear one and her picture frames are definitely too pretty for any of the photos I’ve taken recently. But her real genius lies in her pom-poms.

Mama size pom-pom and a NEW mini pom-pom for little fans (or for your ponytail)

Now, Hannah is a fan of something called War Eagle and is always yelling about them on Twitter. I Googled it, and discovered War Eagle isn’t actually a vicious bird but the mascot for Auburn’s football team. Which makes a lot more sense. But since she was tired of ugly ball caps and jerseys as her only options to show her Auburn love in public, she created these pom-pom pins in her team’s colors!

Since my college didn’t even have a football team (I think we were famous for…basketball? And at some point might have had the #2 tennis player in the country? or something?) I had to go with *real* sports when she asked what colors I wanted. And since I live in New England the answer is obviously red & blue – Go Sox AND Go Pats!!

OMG don't we look insanely alike in this picture?

This is Little Evan and I in our adorable pom-poms*, watching the Patriots almost lose even though they had a TWENTY POINT LEAD. Please note Evan’s vintage football sweater that simply supports an imaginary “team team”.

WTF PATS?!?!?!?!

Luckily, that last touchdown didn’t count and we won. I give all the credit to our new pom-poms.

*For the record, the pom-pom hair clippie is actually for Baby Girl, but it’s a little hard to get her to model things right now. Also, Hannah made using Evan as the model a requirement for the giveaway. True story. Oh, and the small pom-pom can also be put on a pin if you’d prefer that to a clip.

If you want to support your team with your very own pompoms, Hannah is going to give one of my readers their very own set of matching mama & baby poms in YOUR CHOICE of colors!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me what colors you want! You can see what Hannah has in stock here but your choice can be ANY team colors. Just don’t say blue and white pinstripe, because we don’t allow your kind around here. I’m not even joking.

You can also follow Hannah’s blog (which I recommend, she’s been doing some awesome giveaways) or follow her on Twitter (which I also recommend, because she’s hilarious) but those aren’t extra entries.

Giveaway will be open until November 4nd, winner will be chosen using Random.org and notified via email, so make sure you use a real email address when you comment.

Giveaway is now closed!

Disclaimer bit: Hannah sent me these pom-poms free of charge to photograph and review, but I think she really just wanted to see Little Evan in a hair clippie. No other compensation was received and the opinions expressed are entirely my own. I wasn’t even extra nice because she’s a fellow Navy wife.

Day 1 is open until November 1st! Allora Handmade
Day 2 is open until November 2nd! Uff Da Designs
Day 3 is open until November 3rd! Taradara