The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
On watching a son choose his interests
Mark Podolski writes about being a sports editor, and his son, who loves swimming and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but wasn’t impressed when he got to meet an NFL quarterback.
Being a dad to me means you can’t force your children to play, follow or watch sports. My wife and I encourage our 9-year-old son Sam to do many things, and he’s tried several sports. Swimming has stuck with him, and he’s been a member of the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Sea Monkeys going on three seasons.
I’ve worked in sports media for more than half my life — and covered just about everything a sports fan can imagine.
Funny things happen along the way — and many times it involves your kids.
When starting in this business in 1991 for Ohio State’s student newspaper The Lantern, the UFC had yet to be created, and its heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic wasn’t even 10 years old.
Yet in three weeks, I’ll be headed to Las Vegas to cover the Miocic vs. light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 226 on July 7 in a legitimate super fight.
Throughout my interactions with Miocic, our son has met the champion several times. To Sam, Miocic is just “Stipe,” and a guy who’s “cool.”
When it comes to sports, the two sports stars my son are most familiar with — and maybe the only two — are Miocic and LeBron James.
When we first watched “Rocky IV,” (by the way, required viewing in the Podolski home, no questions asked) Sam hilariously told me he wished Stipe would “beat up stupid Ivan Drago” after the Russian boxer killed Apollo Creed. As a proud papa, at least I’ve got that.
During our trip two weekends ago to the Wizard World Columbus Comic-Con, we passed the Arnold Schwarzenegger statue in front of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, and I asked Sam if he knew who that was. He asked, “Stipe?”
Last week, Sam also met Mitchell Trubisky at his Mentor youth football camp. He had no clue Trubisky was the Bears starting quarterback, and, no offense to Trubisky, didn’t seem all that thrilled when I told him.
While hundreds of first- through sixth-graders watched in wonder as Trubisky led drills June 11 during Day 1 of the camp, I did my multi-media work to gather information for a Trubisky camp story. Sam quietly sat aside reading his “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book.
Talking and watching sports with my son would be awesome. But right now it’s not happening, and that’s OK.
The two of us being at the Captains game or watching the Indians on TV on Father’s Day would have been a great afternoon. Instead, we spent the afternoon at our neighborhood pool, then watched “Jurassic Park.” Loved every minute of it. It was the two of us, and that was enough for one happy dad.
That’s the thing about being a father, a parent in general and, most important, a human being. We’re all different, and you can’t pick and choose what kind of person your son or daughter evolve into.
We can suggest and guide along the way but in the end they choose.
Right now, Sam is a Marvel Cinematic Universe kind of kid. “SpiderMan Homecoming,” “Black Panther,” and “Avengers Infinity War” are much more appealing to him than Miocic, Trubisky or LeBron.
He’s only 9, so I still have hope he becomes a sports junkie like his old man, but it isn’t so bad.
I’ve been a Marvel movie geek since before my son was born, so in that respect I won’t complain.
Reach Podolski at MPodolski@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @mpodo