Couldn't That Be Considered Child Abuse?.......

Maybe it's just me, but I think people who take infants to football games are guilty of some form of child abuse.

And I think we can add baseball, basketball, hockey, gymnastics, lacrosse, volleyball, tennis, badminton, rodeo, square dancing, skeet shooting, ice skating, roller derby, and rugby to the list.

We went to watch the Falcons play today (they won - yay!), something Hubby and I had never done in our 12.5 years of marriage.

Our seats were at the top of the Georgia Dome. Seriously. There were two . . . count 'em, two . . . rows behind/above us.

When Atlanta scored and there were fireworks, we were looking DOWN on them.

The Chick-Fil-A people dropped little parachuting cows from the upper reaches of the Dome, I'm guessing with coupons for chicken sandwiches for the lucky fans who nabbed them. We didn't have a shot at one, since there would have had to be a serious UPDRAFT going on for the cows to reach us.

A couple came teetering up the steps to our section carrying a baby that must have been born in the parking lot right before they came in. I mean, it was TEENY. It was not in a carrier, nor did I see evidence of one. The dad was carrying this baby in one arm and holding onto the railing for dear life with the other hand.

Another mom came huffing up the stairs wearing one of those baby carriers in front, where the kid is facing her with his legs splayed out to each side because she wasn't a small woman. That kid is going to need hip replacement surgery before he's two years old. Or maybe he'll just be an excellent cowboy.

Come on, people.

How much enjoyment is there for an infant at a football game? How much enjoyment is there for the PARENTS of those infants?

Aren't there risks involved? They sell alcohol at those places. Drunks abound (though not as many as there are at UGA games, where alcohol is NOT sold/allowed. Hmmmmmm), and the noise is considerable.

Really, why?

If they don't have grandparents nearby, perhaps they should pay for a sitter.

If they can't afford a baby-sitter, perhaps they shouldn't have shelled out the $55 per ticket for that particular stratospheric location.

If they can't stand to be away from the baby even for three hours, perhaps they should stay home and watch the game on television. TV coverage is excellent, and you get replays.

If they don't trust anyone else to keep the baby, what about the 30,000 or so STRANGERS they've plopped yon baby down in the middle of?

I'm just sayin'......

But We'll Still Be Okay.....

I can't say I expected both our quarterback AND our star running back to enter the NFL draft today, but I can't say I'm exactly surprised either. And I'm not as upset about it as I thought I would be. We'll be fine without them. Most of our fans are disappointed that we didn't win a National Championship this year. I keep hearing talk about our "disappointing" season. Hellooooooooooo?????? 9-3 isn't a terrible record. Undefeated is almost unheard of, and what good did it do Utah anyway? Okay, so the loss to Tech was embarrassing and demoralizing, but I think the wind had just gone out of our sails after Florida, so it was almost inevitable.

I wish both Stafford and Moreno the best. Stafford will probably go to the 0-16 Lions next year. They can take a chance on a rookie quarterback, because the only way to go for them is up. The Falcons didn't do so badly with a rookie quarterback this season, although I'm pretty sure there are some fans who are disappointed because they only made it to the first round of the playoffs. Helloooooooooooooooooo????? This is the same team that only won four freakin' games last year (I think). Making the playoffs at all with a rookie coach, a rookie quarterback, and the shadows of a criminal former quarterback and spineless former coach hanging over them was quite an achievement.

For those of you who aren't football fans, I apologize. Starting this weekend, it will be all about gymnastics. I'm just warning ya.