2011 Topps Lineage Mini #56 Shane Victorino

Here’s a cool Shane Victorino card in honor of my son Doug, who turned five today.  The Flyin’ Hawaiian is Doug’s favorite player.

Doug recently approached me looking as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.  “Dad,” he said, “I have something to tell you and I hope it doesn’t make you mad.”  I told him he could tell me anything and that he should go ahead and just tell me what he was thinking about.

“I don’t think I like baseball,” he said.

I was momentarily flustered, but I quickly recovered and I told him he didn’t need to like everything that I liked and I’d still love him even if he didn’t like baseball.  He thought about this and then added, “No, I like baseball and I like the Phillies, but I don’t like watching baseball on TV.”  (I was watching something on the MLB Network at the time.)

Admittedly relieved, I told him that when I was almost five I didn’t like watching baseball on TV either.  In fact, I used to think baseball on TV was kind of boring.  This cheered him up and he asked if it really would be OK if he didn’t like the same things I liked.  I told him, “Absolutely!” and then we talked about how my Dad (his Pop-Pop) used to like watching football on TV all the time and I’ve never really liked football.

Before this tender father/son moment ended, I did have one request for Doug.  While it would be perfectly OK if we liked different things, I told him that “absolutely, positively, under no circumstances are you to ever root for the Mets.”  Doug smiled and said, “Yeah, the Mets stink.”  Mission accomplished.

Happy birthday Doug!