Grace recently asked me this with enough earnest to make you think she’s counting the minutes until college football returns: “Mom – are you a Beaver? or a Ducker?”
Uhhhhhhhhh… (I stalled while trying to figure out what was happening.) “What?”
Grace was losing patience and threw her arms out and said – “Do you like the Beavers? or the Ducks? Who is your favorite?”
Uhhh… (slightly quicker this time on my end) – “I like them both. Which one is your favorite?”
Seriously? I have no idea. It took me at least three minutes to figure out what exactly I was being asked. (For the record – the core of the question was whether I supported University of Oregon or Oregon State University.) I can barely name one current Philadelphia athlete and I lived there most of my life, so chances are pretty good I am still trying to figure out where my allegiance lies in relation to local university teams.
However, this is apparently a hot topic at school – and for good reason. It seems to be the biggest sports rivalry in town – kind of like Yankees / Mets. Smaller, but with the same amount of passionate fans on either side. All the kids have a favorite. And, as luck would have it, Gavin is a die-hard “Ducker” as Grace says, and she likes the Ducks, but really thinks the Beaver is cute. (I don’t think she realizes the Ducks’ mascot is modeled after Donald Duck since they use the “O” vs. the duck.) So, she has tee-shirts in support of both. I am not sure this is legal and hope it doesn’t alienate her in her four-year-old clique that apparently talks sports.
As for me, I generally don’t wear any clothes supporting sports teams, so I am safe for now. But I have a sneaky suspicion we aren’t done with this conversation and I will be suiting up in support of one or the other the longer I live here.