"We Don't Own Anything Orange!"

Tomorrow, we are taking X-man to his first U of I men's basketball game. We've avoided it his whole life for many reasons.

1. Tickets in the C section are $40 per ticket.
2. There are lots of crowds, and we aren't partial to crowds.
3. Although MacTroll is a graduate of U of I, I'm the closest thing to a sports junkie in this house. And although I was a Bulls fan for most of my childhood, I could give a crap about college sports.
4. Women's basketball games tend to be more family friendly. If you end up next to a grumpy fan who curses and freaks out over everything -- at a woman's basketball game, you can just change seats.
5. Up until last year, there was no way he could sit still for the whole game.
6. Most of the games don't start until 7, and by 6 p.m. my child is pretty much exhausted -- every day.

So, why are we going? Because X-man has asked to go every year, and every year I tell him the reasons why. But he still asks. I will admit that most of the sporting events at U of I that we go to are female sports. We're big fans of the Illini softball team. But X-man got to go to a volleyball game in 2011 when they were tearing other teams to the floor.

It was then than he realized a giant crowd could be fun. It got him excited! So, we're going to show him what a really large crowd looks like. He's seen one at Busch in St. Louis, but it's all outdoor (not contained inside) and the amount of orange in one room is heinous.

Besides softball, his favorite sports experiences are watching Illini hockey. Speaking of hockey, X-man went to the Ice Arena today for the first time as part of his Day Camp with the Champaign Park District. He learned to skate using a walker and said that he wants to go back and take lessons.

This is very exciting. Because before now, he was always super afraid of skating. I don't have my PT's blessing to skate yet, so MacTroll will have to take him for now, but I did get her blessing to start strength training again. I'm working out with my friend Kari twice a week, and I'm going to give BodyPump a sporting try this Sunday at the Y.