Shouting
So I've decided that Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go prepare kids for a lifetime of watching professional sports.

Often, throughout the show, Dora will tell her viewers, "When you see Swiper the Fox (the resident bad-guy on the show), yell 'Swiper!'" And the kids, once they reach about Isaac's age, dutifully holler "Swiper!" when he appears.

This, I feel, prepares kids like Isaac perfectly for when he gets to sit down and watch NFL football with his dad.

I, like so many men, learned the manly art of shouting at the TV from my Father. Nary a Sunday would go by without my dad, and often uncle Peter rising from their chairs for a rousing chorus of "Go! GO! GO! GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO! NOOOOOoooooo!"

It's like it was part of our oral tradition. (Sorry)

So my concern at this point, is that Isaac is going to learn this incredibly valuable life skill (Life skill, I hear you mock? Of course it is, if he EVER intends to "go out with the boys" to a "local watering hole" and "catch the game", he is going to NEED this skill, or face total ostracisation. Of course, with the way he natters on about Volcanoes and Pyroclastic flows, the odds are pretty stacked against him as it is...but I digress) - he should really learn it from his Dad, and not an unquenchably irritating cartoon character.

And THAT, I would submit, is an excellent reason for me to spend most of the weekend of February 1st, just a boy and his dad, hollering at the tube.

Except I'll be in Honduras. No biggie, it'll be years before San Francisco make the playoffs again, anyhow.