In which Connor goes to his 1st NFL game

A few weeks ago, Grandma Ella asked us if we knew anyone who would like to use her extra ticket to go see the Browns game with her and Aunt Ann. And we did. As you already know, Connor is all things football. Grandma Ella seemed to think we were crazy, but we knew he would love it. We did, however, ask her not to tell him until closer to the date, so as to keep his crazy excitement to a manageable level.

So, a few days before the game, Grandma Ella called and asked to talk to Connor. Once on the phone, she asked him if he had any plans for Sunday, and whether he could come visit. Connor seemed like an old pro at setting up dates, and put her on hold while he asked me if I would take him to visit Grandma for the weekend. I, of course, had already been planning on it, so I said yes. Then, it all went horribly wrong.

Grandma Ella asked him if he would like to go to the Browns game. And no, he wouldn't. You see, he doesn't like the Browns, and he would much rather go to the Bengals v. Steelers game that was going to be taking place at the same time. Why couldn't she just buy tickets to that game instead? Cincinnati was in Ohio, too.

Apparently, Connor is four years old, and his only experience with NFL games so far is on the television, where we can simply choose whichever game we want to watch with the flick of a remote. It took me quite some time to convince him of all the reasons why Grandma Ella wasn't going to be able to take him to a different game from the one that she had tickets to. But eventually, I managed to explain the situation to him, and he decided that he really did want to go to an NFL game, even if it was going to be at the Browns stadium. (He was committed to cheering for the Rams, though.)

He called Grandma Ella back, and told her that he would love to go to the game with her, and then everything was back on track. And, just as I expected, Connor's level of excitement increased at a rapid rate for the next two days. Now, the only thing that surprised me was that Connor refused all of our offers to buy him any sort of Cleveland Browns gear to wear. He didn't want a hat. He didn't want a shirt. He didn't want to wear brown. He doesn't like brown.

(But he does want to go to a Bengals game and a Steelers game, and he does want a shirt and a hat and socks for both of those teams.)

On Sunday afternoon, Connor was happy as could be as we sent him away with Grandma Ella and Aunt Ann to go to the game.


Grandma Ella and Aunt Ann both said that he was a very good spectator, and that he had a great time. I called once to talk to him, and after he said, "Hi, Mommy," he handed the phone back to Grandma Ella and I could hear him say, "I don't want to talk on the phone right now. I'm watching the game."

He was totally amped when I called after the game ended, but he was sound asleep in the car by the time they got home.

In the end, Connor had a great time at his first NFL Game. But we may have created a monster. He is already planning which games he wants us to buy tickets to next.