Why they say "Hi. Mom!"

This weekend I had he pleasure of going to (yet) another basketball tournament with Stepson, Hubby, and Stepson's mom, who shall now be referred to as My Baby Momma since her child has truly over the years become my baby.

Anyway, these trips usually mean spending a lot of money and not getting home until almost time for me to go to work. I have always liked the game of basketball, but now, have become a true fan. I can even make some of the calls. Of course, I do them Diva style!

Anyway, this weekend, I actually took a moment to look around the gym. This tournament was held at the University of Akron (who knew there was such a thing)and was host to over 100 teams ages 10-18 from all over the country and a couple from Canada. There were thousands of kids there, and in the stands were hundred of shouting parents...mostly women.

Women...Moms.

The whole weekend I may have seen about 30 Dads and I think some of them were Uncles. Of course, all of the coaches (with the exception of Stepson's team) were men. But there was truly an absence of fathers in the stands. My first thought was that all the dads were working so that the moms could come, but the more moms I talked to the more I realized that for most of them, dad was not around. Sure, there were quite a few that said that their husbands did not come because they just could not afford for two parents to make these expensive trips. That is understandable, it cost a grip to fly to the tournament, get a hotel, car, eat...it just puts a big dent in the budget! But many of these women use their own funds and follow their boys to these tournaments.

I realized as I got home at 2am that I had to be back up and about by 6:30. I can only imagine these mothers having to do the same thing, plus get a sleepy teenager up and ready for school. Wow.


The more I talked to the moms the more I wondered just where all the dads were. How could you miss this part of your son's growing up? I was proud that of the 30 or so dads that were there, Hubby was one of them shouting from the sidelines and helping me make sure there refs were on their jobs (they couldn't do it without me). I am proud that he is a man that will spend that grip to go to a tournament so that his son knows he supports him.

I guess now I can understand why whenever there is a closeup, the players say "Hi, Mom!"