The Rogue Parent

The Big Game - Six Guys on the Annual Football Journey

It’s an annual ritual, a time of devolution for the cavemen, our crew of football guys, who spend most of the rest of their year working and changing diapers. The annual trip of the cavemen gives us all a chance to reconnect with that drunk college guy we all once were, at least for a few days.

This year we headed to Charlotte to see the Panthers take on the Lions.  Special thanks to the resident Lion’s fan in our crew for providing awesome Lions hoodies with our cave names and numbers on the back.  This year was Cha’s (cave name substituted for his real name) big year to see his game in unfriendly territory with five guys at his back. Unfortunately, and as expected, Panther’s took the game.  Next year we’re heading to see Philly and then, assuming we make it, we’re going to a Giant’s game; which I’m eagerly waiting.

The real reason for the trip was not to just catch a football game, it’s to catch up to the elusive youth that’s escaping faster than ever.  As a dad, it’s tough to get away and hang out with the buddies.  This trip is a chance to reconnect with the youth that made us into the men we are today.  So based on that, here’s the five things I learned this year:

Reconnecting With Buddies is Important

Enough can’t be said about how awesome it is to put the diapers away, forget work, ignore responsibility and jump in a van with your buddies for a road trip.  This is the kind of thing that would be common place in an earlier part of my life, but now seems to hold a much higher meaning.  For 363 days out of the year we’re family guys and psudo-successful business men.  For the other two days, we try to knock each other over and unsuspecting street side bush on the way to a football game.

I’m not sure if the women or children in our lives will ever truly understand the importance of our annual caveman trip.  In reality, the chance to reconnect with your friends and forgo responsibility is just the reset button most of us need.  And at the end of the trip, as we come home, we realize how much we really appreciate and need what we have waiting for us.

We Can’t Hang

Yeah, we all knew it.  While we didn’t plan on being the ones out to three in the morning; we also didn’t plan on one of our guys wanting to go to bed at 8:30pm.  Though were credit is due, we did enjoy the tailgating and game quite a bit that day.

Our Jokes are Different

Though there’s still a lot of poop jokes, and others I’ll not mention,  there’s definitely been more of a swing to political, 80’s, technology and family based jokes.  What can I say, we’re more well rounded.

Aside from Beer, A Bunch of Rolaids Were Consumed.

We used to be able to wake up, find a Waffle House and go on our way.  Now, we’re getting up to pop some Tums and feeling the pain in the morning.  While the beer can still flow, we find the toll is a little higher.  Still, it’s well worth the price in the end.

We Still Rock

Yeah we’re older (30s - 40’s), but we still friggin’ rock and the annual game wouldn’t mean half as much to me if I was 21.  It’s not just the team’s big game, it’s also the Cavemen’s big game.  Our chance to get out there and show that we’re still kids and can go out and stand with the best of them.

Got an annual man trip to rescue you from the world of family and responsibility?  Let me know and leave a comment here.