As I snuggled in on the couch to watch my son's basketball game being live streamed, I couldn't help remembering how much my back was utterly killing me by the end of last year's season. Backless bleacher seats are so unkind to aging backs! It made me realize that watching games from home on the laptop has its advantages:
1. Not only is the couch literally billions of times more comfortable than bleachers . . . in general the living room is much warmer and cozier than any school gym.
2. The couch is really, really comfy . . . and when I'm watching from home, a mid-game snooze is totally possible.
3. We can share the link with family members who live too far away to make live games.
4. Volume control when the squeak-squeak-squeak of the sneakers or the drone of the buzzer become too annoying.
5. I don't have to divide my time watching my son play and wondering what kind of trouble my other kids are getting into under the bleachers or in the hallways.
UPDATE!
I wrote the above observations before they began allowing parents in to watch games in person. Since that time I've been to two in-person games and have to admit . . . there are also things I really like about watching my son play in person.
Does that mean I take back any of the above? Nope! I have the ability to like two different things simultaneously! So while I continue to appreciate the comfort and convenience of live streamed games, I also really appreciate some aspects of watching in person. (Though I do wish I had volume control in person--that buzzer is excessively loud and annoying.)
Here are five things I was reminded of enjoying when I got to sit in the gym:
1. I derive a sort of weird pleasure out of watching grown men lose their minds over a school sports game. (Not when they take it too far and have to be carded or asked to leave--but luckily I haven't really witnessed much of that. Just the sort of run-of-the-mill disagreeing with the ref's call that makes me cue up Heart Attack Man in my head.)
2. It's easier for me to actually see my own son when I'm in direct danger of getting hit by a ball . . . and I really do love watching him play, even if I don't like the idea of getting hit by a flying ball or smelly teenage boy.
3. I get a little charge out of hearing the coach from the other team repeatedly warning his players to watch out for my son.
4. In years past, trying to make sure I got to all the games sometimes felt like a real struggle. But this year, any chance to get out of the house and see other people is such a treat!
5. My husband says this wasn't a date since one of our kids was technically present, but it was still nice to just sit with him alone with nothing else to do but enjoy watching the game together. (Plus I got to listen to him be a sideline coach/ref and cue up the Beastie Boys in my brain. Bonus!)
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