Train Watching vs Football

No photos!!!

I knew someone would ask that Spence.  Yes... we have photos and video.  They are on my camera at home and I'm departing for a business trip for a few days.  I will try to post some later in the week.

 

For now you will have to use your imagination.  Sorry!

Ron

 

Would love to see the Rockville Bridge photos.  Sounds like a great day...but nothing could be better than watching the Cowboys go down!!  

Great family story, and in 3 weeks you will not miss any football when you head out again.

 

Jack 

These days I find trains much more interesting than pro football.   I would even rather run my own than watch the games on TV.  I think you made a good call, unlike that ref in the Dallas game.  I love the NFL's definition of a reception/non reception.  "He had possession, but not control...".  WTF???  Sound like some sleazy lawyer trying to get some punk off on a pot bust 

 

I will probably watch the National Championship college game tonight being that it is the first of it's kind...  

Football ??  Haven't watched a game in 2 years, no TV either. Good choice to go train-watching. Glad that it was a good day. Weather too bad around here.

That's an easy choice.  The football games can be recorded for viewing in the evening while you spend a day making memories with your growing son.  20 years from now, you will have forgotten what the score was and who made the big plays of the day, but you'll remember that Sunday you spent with your son, when he asked you to take him to watch a special locomotive.  Most importantly, he'll remember it, too.

Time spent with your son is better then a football game anyday. 

 

I agree 100%.

 

But: Go Patriots.

 

SJS

 

Ron,

 

Spending time with your family trumps ANY football game.  I too haven't watched a professional game in years in its entirety.  Too much of "more of the same", including the Detroit/Dallas game.. (don't get me started on THAT one!)  But as was pointed out, you'll remember the time spent with your son MUCH longer than whatever game is on (and on and on and on...).  I used to take my guys to street rod events all over the country when they were younger, and they even found a GG1 on display at a fairgrounds.  They were the ones who informed me of its being there too!  We also used to take them on excursion trains as much as possible, and they too supplied us with more memories than almost anything else.  They still talk about all the times we spent together.

 

Bottom line?  Yeah, you spent your time wisely, my friend!

 

BTW, love your avatar, and the guys at work are the ones with messed up priorities.

 

Jerry

 

Covered in sn*w in Wayne, MI
 

Your son is more important then football any day. 

I think you made a great decision dad.  You have your priorities right in my opinion and that has nothing to do with trains and everything to do with spending quality time with your son.  Good job.

 

Art

Wow, Ron, you experienced a fabulous day with your son - 7 road names!

It doesn't get any better than that.

As I like to say, you have your priorities in order.

Family time is priceless.

I'll echo a lot of posters here.  If I had to choose football or my son(s), they win out every time.  On a related note, I'm getting better at Madden 15 on the XBox.  My son beat me 14-10 this weekend.  Maybe it was because I chose the fins.  LOL

Trains > Football

I couldn't care less about football... or sports at all, for that matter.  I do miss marching band, though.

There's a big difference between being involved and simply being a fan.  If you and/or your son are/were actively in football, that would be more meaningful than simply watching a game on TV.  Going train watching is an active pursuit, and that's where the fulfillment and memories come from.

The only reason I'm interested in the Super Bowl this year is because the next Jurassic World trailer will be airing.

a day watching pro football: OK

a day out with son chasing trains: priceless

no contest.

 

next question please.

 

Tell them to go get stuffed.

My wife and I couldn't have kids, and I'd give my left leg to have been able to go chase trains (or pretty much anything else, for that matter) with a son of mine.

I rather watch paint dry then watch the Pats play the Seahawks in 3 weeks .. Or any of the championship games this week! Yes I am a Cowboys fan.. So be it .But I love my trains there relaxing !

Ron

 

You won!  You had a great day with your son. 

Wow!  I have company...I am not the only non pseudojock.  Watch them do next weekend what they did last weekend...same thing, different day?  Now, if somebody

has the interest, AND THE PROVEN SKILLS, and can make it to the pros in any sport, where they can live in a Bill Gates house knockoff, and trade Ferraris every year, I definitely would go for it!  But that is like becoming the next John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe...you are better off buying lottery tickets, because the odds are better.  One of my brother's sons went to a college based on his making the football team....on his high school experience. This was not Notre Dame, but a smaller college, and he did not make the first string. Has to work for a living.  I, as a kid, since I discovered models and the outdoors, and then cars, and....and.....have always wanted to create something, whether it was chintzy plastic HO car kit or....?  Now, with those ticket

prices, if you own a team, that does create.... money, for you.

Maybe I never got into football watching as all our family vacations were to museums and civil war battlefields. I used to hear stories from my uncles about hunting tigers (and Japanese soldiers) in Burma during WW2 as well as stories about the amazing things people did on the battlefields of the civil war from my Dad growing up.

After growing up hearing stuff like that, pro sports seems sort of... silly in comparison. I cringe every time I hear any sports people being referred to as "warriors".

Dang it, I was a warrior once... in the military.

Sure, football players are atheletes, and darned good ones to get to the pros. I couldn't do what they do.

But in the end, it's still just a bunch of grown men playing with a ball.

I will watch my old school's team playing if there's nothing truly compelling going on, and if Seattle gets to the Super Bowl, I'll watch that as well as the playoff game this weekend, but that's the limit to my interest in football.

Despite the character of so many of the players, and the non-stop commercials, and the ever changing rules/penalties ...... football is still a great game.

 

However, you were out living life with you boy! Great job, Dad!

 

Watching football is for when there is nothing better to do.

GREAT story.

 

and 7 road names in one day railfanning is pretty darn good.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Paul

I should have added that whatever your son wants to do, and you can share with him,

is a very good thing.  My brother, as I, had zero interest in spectator sports, but one

son became involved  in Little League.  That demanded and got support, that carried into college, as did the sharing opportunity.  I would suspect that happens with a lot of

parents.

Not only that P51, but when you play the game from a boy and get to the pro or collegiate level, you live with the consequences of past games every day.  I still have trouble focusing at times, and my knees don't quite work like they should.  Back then there was no talk of concussions or other TBIs... just smelling salts.  It's a fun game, but I tell kids and their dads that they need to invest in the best helmet technology there is on the market today, not just what the school or organization provides.  My buck and a half.  

 

Oh, and they are athletes.  Warriors are the guys who volunteer.    Much respect!

 

If you have

- broadcast TV available in your area

- TV antenna

- twin to coax converter

- router

- could run that coax to your computer or router area

 

You can get a dual channel TV tuner made by SiliconDust. You hook up the coax, power, and an ethernet to the box, and then either use Windows Media Center or their software.

 

Then you can record two shows at a time, and watch at your leisure.

 

Assume it does NOT work for cable, satellite, or U-Verse. Maybe some older analog cable systems, but mostly no.

 

Good choice, by the way.

Nothing wrong with being an athlete. I enjoyed varsity sports in high school, college and the Army. helped get me through school. My kids were in sports too but we did a lot of other things. Today pro football is entertainment not sports -like studio wrestling. Too many agents, lawyers, hangers-on and law breakers. I can't stand the relentless chatter of the announcers and the endless commercials. It is brain-numbing. My wife and I used to go to Steeler games free but quit because it was boring-AND they were a whole lot better then for sure !!   Rail fanning or any activity with your son is time well spent.

I like Football... but I am really glad I did not miss this opportunity to spend the day with my son.

 

Ron, You did the right thing. I loved all the days I took my son trackside. I wish we both had more time to keep doing it. (He is out of college and on his on now.)

 

Chris

LVHR

HI RON • Spending time with your children it the most important, I have three children, now all adults. We used to live in downtown Plymouth, Michigan. This city has all kinds of train action. At that time a round house and turn table.What fun. The round house and turntable is gone. Now they have a first class restaurant.  When the train goes by, the bartender rings the bell.

 

http://www.station885.com/

  Click photo to enlarge.

football vs time with your son?…….  THAT's A NO BRAINER……… LOL….

Great Choice .. And you didn't need Joe Buck telling you what you just saw for yourself!

Thanks for sharing this story about you and your son doing things together. Some of my most cherished memories are times I spent with my dad. Dad is long since gone but he is still a REAL hero in my book!

 

My retired friends never say they wished the had spent more time watching football but many have said they wished they had spent more time with their children. You have set a great example for other dads to follow!

Football = fun, but trivial

Railfanning = fun, a little less trivial

Time with your kid doing whatever they want to do = priceless. Etching eternal memories, building relationships, making them the number one priority over any activity is what life is about. Priorities = 1. God 2. Family 3. Everything else

 

Thanks for sharing and excellent comments!

Tough question to answer.  I'd have to say football because my son and I both love to go to the games and watch on TV together.....at 12 he's lost his interest in trains for about 6 years now.

-Greg

Spending time with your son rules over the NFL; however, the NFL rules over train watching.

Just think Ron someday your son might be waving to you from the right hand seat in the cab!

Just think Ron someday your son might be waving to you from the right hand seat in the cab!

At 12 years old... That is what he currently wants to do in life.  Amtrak Engineer on the NEC from DC to Boston.

 

Not sure why he likes that specific job.  But he does.  I'm sure it will change a dozen times before he becomes an adult.  But it's neat to hear him say it.

 

Ron

 

All you football, baseball and railroad fans need to move to Seattle! You can watch a Pro game, then walk east a few feet from your seats and look down on the BNSF mainline, the Amtrak, Sounder and Talgo facilities, and both the King street and Union Stations!

 

The baseball stadium has a rolling roof that rolls over the tracks. I used to call it "The Giant Megaphone", but they took out the RXR crossing that ran between the stadiums.