「故事·听力」My Dad Is Obsessed With Sports And Doesn't Care About Me

My Dad Is Obsessed With Sports And Doesn't Care About Me

Hi, this is Michael Jordan. No, not that Michael Jordan, of course. Michael is his first name, Jordan is his middle name, and yes, he was named after the greatest basketball player of all time. This was an idea his dad had had since he was like, eighteen, which was years before he even got married and even longer before he knew he’d have a son. He has always been a HUGE sports fan.

His dad had never really played any sports. Of course, as a kid, he had a basketball hoop in the front yard, but it didn’t really go further than that.

But as he got older, his dad got really into it. And he’s not just talking about the NBA. Sure, basketball is his favorite sport, but his dad’s also into hockey, tennis, baseball, football, soccer…Michael can’t even remember all of them! Some kind of game is on literally every single minute when his dad’s at home. Sure, he’s got a job and stuff – in fact, he works as an art teacher and he’s a really good painter. This makes his love of sports a paradox for most people who get to know him.

His dad’s never lived in a major sporting city, so the teams he follows are all over the country. He’s been a Chicago Bulls fan since he grew up seeing Michael Jordan play, and as for hockey, he loves the LA Kings…at least that’s the stuff Michael remembers for sure; he’s kind of confused about the rest.

His dad had always hoped his first child would be a boy. And it was not just because he wanted to give him that name. You see, after college Michael’s dad had to move to another town, so he left all his friends behind, and they had been the only people he could discuss the Bulls’ games with and stuff like that. Yes, of course there are plenty of sports fans online, but you can’t watch a game with people you meet on the internet.

So, anyway, his dad found himself in a situation where literally no one around him shared his interests. And that was tough for him. Like, even the people who were also kind of interested in basketball, hockey, or football could only make small talk with him, and his dad needed more. These were people who’d watch the Superbowl or who knew which team LeBron was playing for, but his dad needed a real soulmate.

Then he met Michael’s mom, who turned out to be his soulmate in everything BUT sports; they got married, and when his dad found out he was having a son, he already had a plan. And he was determined to stick to it.

As Michael was growing up, he was exposed to sports as much as possible. He even had a Bulls onesie and a Wayne Gretzky poster on his wall when he was only a couple of months old. His dad travels to see big games live several times a year, and when Michael turned three he started to take him with him. And he would have done it even earlier if it was not for his mom. She was okay with sports when they met, but over the years she's gotten so tired of them. Now every time his dad puts on a game she leaves the room and puts on music. And that’s kind of sad, because they’ve ended up spending less time together.

So, awkward moments started to occur when Michael became old enough to understand what was going on around him. And it didn’t take long for him to realize that he was completely uninterested in any of the sports his dad was obsessed with. Sure, it was always fun playing them, but he just didn’t get what was so exciting about being a fan!

But his dad never gave up. Years and years passed, and he still kept trying. Sometimes he'd change his tactics, and ease up on the pressure, hoping Michael would just spontaneously want to watch a game with him. But that never happened. He liked spending time with him, but why did everything have to be about sports?

For example, Michaels’ been learning to play drums for five years already, and every time there was a concert he’d like to go to that wasn’t too far from them, he would have liked to have gone with his dad! But half of the time, there was some really important game on that he couldn’t miss the same night. And when they did go...Well, once they went to the concert of a really good jazz drummer. The show was awesome, but his dad was so bored and was constantly checking scores online. That was…heartbreaking.