The Foot, The Ball, The Variations

The new football season means different things to different people.

It means kicking a ball and not using one's hands to some; unfortunately a group includes a Bournemouth father-of-four named Meadows who was so upset at a referee's decision at his son's school game that he felt compelled to kick the soccer/football out of an opposing team father.

It means the release of themed books, including the kids' book, Family Huddle, constructed around the Mannings, legend Archie and Super Bowl sons Peyton and Eli (and the near-forgotten non-QB Cooper).

And for a very unfortunate few, football is the memory of a sit com's meddlesome father:

ABC: About Boobies & Crickets

It would seem likely that the father in the news for the most unlikely act would be Ragnar Bengtsson. The 26-year-old Swedish economics student has decided to try and learn (adapt?) to breastfeed — hopefully not for his 2-year-old.



However, breastfeeding pops is somewhat traditional, or at least part of some discussion. [Earlier: Everything Changes] For today, however, what seems even more odd is the father who is a champion cricket spitter (at least in Wisconsin) and seems to be bringing his son up in his blue ribbon spittle.

Drugs and Dads

Happy endings are not as interesting, but they are more reassuring. So we praise Daddy GaGa, who talked Lady GaGa down from her cocaine habit and, sorta, Canadian Rob Watt, who paid for his daughter's crystal meth habit to keep her from a worse fate and until he could turn her life around as he set his own back on the straight(er) and narrow(er).

However, the story that will get most of the headlines and readers is that of Mitch Winehouse throwing out of bed and house the ex-husband of daughter Amy [Earlier: Good Intentions, Dumb Results]. Father Mitch believes his singer daughter was first enmeshed in drugs through that connection. And few doubt he will lose his battle to keep them apart or that he was wrong when he said, the Rehab singer drug connection hubby Blake will "... kill each other if they got back together."

Working on a Holiday

Some jobs are better than others when you have to work on Fathers' Day. Playing tennis would seem to be one of them. A shout out then — on FD, as celebrated on September's first Sunday in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea — to Aussie Lleyton Hewitt, father of Mia Rebecca and Cruz Lleyton, as he takes on new father of twins, Swiss Roger Federer [Earlier: Ace] today in the US Open Round of 16.

Curses

"But it's not my fault!"

Which father hasn't endured that plaintive progenal plea, often following some parental curse at events? Sometimes, of course, it is the child's fault, but it certainly seemed like a reasonable course of action at the time. Such a series of events is reported from Nakuru, Kenya.

Rather then celebrating and offering his blessing when he returned from a business trip to discover his son was newly married, Kelvin Ochoko cursed his son and caused him to be cast out of the local society. But it wasn't really his fault. Really.

Ochoko elder had been presumed dead when his family heard nothing from him for a long time after he went off to pursue money enough to make up for what his second wife's dowry cost him. And a body was found and identified as him. Soooooo..., in accordance with custom, childless Brian Ochoko, one of two sons took a wife. Actually, he took his father's new wife. This was the unfortunate surprise when dad finally came home. Thus, dad was declared alive (and cleansed). Dad cursed son. Son was cast out. His fault? Really?

The only good news for young Ochoko is that Justin Halpern, currently underemployed and living in his parent's house, has landed all sorts of attention by keeping track of his father's curses and other critical comments. He Twitters pop's invectives and agents, publishers and even film producers have all come calling. So get those thumbs moving BO.

Pothole Posse

The Yin/Yang of the universe includes many places to turn for advice (about fatherhood, for example) and entertainment as well as many potholes to avoid. It appears that avoidance can be aimed in the direction of the "reality" of Househusbands of Hollywood. According to a grumpy-looking SAHD from LA, a bunch of guys living off wealthy women does not make for a good place to learn about being a dad or anything else.

As for perhaps the worst moment so far, when one loser takes advice from infamous father Ryan O'Neal. [Earlier: Denouncing de Dad] If this show is the fathers (three "stars" out of five) only chance at getting themselves some respect, they are already too far behind the Real Housewives of Atlanta (or Sheboygan or wherever else there are tv-real housewives and should probably turn to Plan B: just being the best non-celebrity fathers they can.

Braggadocio

Bragging on the progeny is one of the joys of daddom. The skill to be mastered by the father who wants to come off looking best is to highlight the excellence of the child, while also getting in a couple plugs for the part parental wisdom played in making it happen. It's not an easy line to walk.

Recent examples include an essay about the joy of being a cheerleader's pop after having the older siblings excel in "real" sports. Father Kuyper lists how much pride he has in his daughter's skills and work ethic and fantasizes how he'll talk up daughter Kamryn's performance to the star quarterback's dad, but never quite stops suggesting how much happier he would be if he had the quarterback and could humor the cheerleader's dad.

Finding a little better balance is baseball scout Chuck Fick, who talked the St. Louis Cardinals into drafting a certain Chuckie Fick: "I signed [my son]," Chuck Fick said. "I was the cross-checker, and I was also the area scout. There's no nepotism involved if you have talent, and he's got talent." Enough talent, anyway for the 15th (out of 50) rounds.

And somehow managing to make both his daughters and himself even more larger than life through a bit of jawing is Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena. [Earlier: Seek and Hide] Among his lessons from the Q&A with Macleans Magazine are the gems:

"... I’d take them to the police department where they could see people in jail. I wanted them to see people on drugs. I wanted them to see how athletes make some of the worst decisions and lose their money at an early age. If you can see it from the beginning then you can learn."

"... If your child is going to be super good and the child has confidence, your child can be great. But when you push the child too much, you don’t give the child confidence. ...I’ve seen kids get pushed and damaged. You see kids that are told they’re nothing. That’s past the extreme."

"... I wanted to be a dad. Lots of times during interviews Venus and Serena would say, “Well, my dad, he’s my coach.” And I’d say “Don’t ever say I’m a coach, I’m a dad.” I wanted to be a dad more than anything else ...."

Don't we all.

Still Under Daddy: The Singer, Writer and Rodeo Gal

Fairly or not, there are some names that a child will never escape. They are the victims who live under the shadow their father cast by his life and work, no matter how successful they may be on their own.

After admitting that he expected nothing of the son because of how much he admired the father, Nat Hentoff profiled Frank Sinatra Jr. [Earlier: Ol' (Pale) Blue Eyes] and snagged a a quote and mood that sums up much of his life as "His Son: "There's very little demand for my recordings," Jr. says in a somewhat bitter, somewhat regretful manner.

There's also little presumably little demand for the works of physics teacher Felix "son of bestselling mystery author Dick" Francis. This despite the father's reliance on the son for help with his own books. The natural thing, then, is for son to co-author with his father and share a title as a bestselling author.

It is one way of sneaking under the radar, as is taking on your dad's business, but keeping the name. That's the strategy of bronco gal Kirsten Vold, who took over the Harry Vold Rodeo Co. from dad, even though that was never his plan. All seems to be going well for her and she is slowly gaining respect at "the big man," but her biggest problem (like all the others) remains. Dad's still the guy to take her down a peg even if the general public can be encouraged to respect her for who she is. "I'd say he probably can still take a whippin' belt down with me," she admits about her retired octogenarian father.