Apr
26
Submitted by jessica on April 26, 2009 - 12:11pm
We are all hoping to imprint part of ourselves on Viola, and this is my brother Adam's contribution:
This outfit is for cheering games at Wrigley Field. He also gave her an "away" onesie, for supporting the Cubbies on the road, in addition to a complete Green Bay Packers outfit.
Back when I was pregnant, he told me he was amassing sports-team clothing for the Goose (as we were calling her), so she would know which teams to support, apropos of her one-generation-removed midwestern roots. I expressed some discomfort with putting my daughter in uniform, saying that I myself would not feel comfortable in such clothing. To which Adam replied quickly, "We don't want the Goose to have that same discomfort."
I must say, she looks pretty natural. In fact, the way my mom staged this shot, she could be sitting in the upper deck at Wrigley, scorecard in hand, trying to remember the shorthand for sacrifice fly so she can complete her notation of the just-completed inning. The ghost of Harry Carey is weighing heavily over the sun-soaked bleachers as she stands for the seventh-inning stretch and contemplates her second bag of roasted peanuts. She may even forge the signatures of the starting lineup on the bill of her cap just as I did in my youth (Ron "The Penguin" Cey is short and squatty, I thought, so his signaure is probably tall and skinny). In truth, I can't wait to imprint on her my twin loves of statistics and Bob Costas, and baseball is as good a framework as any from which to start.
Thanks, Adam, but Nota Bene, readers: This post is not meant to encourage those of you with other sports-team leanings to jump on this chance to make Viola into a walking advertisement for the Sounders, or the Storm (you know who you are), or Danica Patrick. Direct your energy toward joining us at a Rainiers game and, someday, a Run with Rhubarb.
5 comments
Ha! She looks fantastic. Too bad she'll probably never fit into the Packers uniform... at least not when they're playing.
For the record, that's the road jersey. The home jerseys are the ones with pinstripes.
Wait - she has this grey one and a blue one. Neither is pinstriped. Which is the home jersey?
ohhhh. Well, in that case, neither. They might wear the blue ones for special daytime home games(?). But their standard jerseys are gray for road, white with blue pinstripes for home. I guess 3-6 month infant gear isn't always 100% authentic.
Pardon my comment, you don't know me. I'm Alana's husband, and she forwarded this link to me. First: adorable child, and I love that you called her "the Goose" before she was born. Strikes me as something from a John Irving novel.
anyway, I just thought I'd chime in and point out that the teams represented are potentially crucial shapers of her future personality. The Cubs and the Packers. Cubs: perennial lovable underdogs, the ying to the Yankees yang. And the Packers: America's other team, the team owned by the city, the antithesis to the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones. Actively rooting for these teams can become part of a personal philosophy, a persona.
But I'm a cheesehead who's always had a soft spot for Cubs. So I'm partial. And I've apparently got nothing to do here at work. Hope to meet you sometime!
Patrick
Greetings Patrick,
Your observations are always welcome here at Toast and Cereal, especially if they are inclined in this direction. I hadn't thought of this angle, but you're so right: the Cubs and Packers have a lot to teach about persistence, pride without hubris, and taking the long view. Given that, I wonder what our hometown teams represent - the Mariners and Seahawks (both expansion teams, I believe?), the Storm and the Sounders FC.
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