Da Fools-ball Is Da Devil!

So Lucas knows football - when the game is on, and I ask him what he sees on the TV, he says "Fuh-ball", and he also says "Touchdown!" and raises his arms like the ref, and his assessment of Peyton Manning ("good arm, excels at keeping a defense on it's toes through liberal use of the audible, worthless in the post season") was right on. He's not just an armchair quarterback - the kid can throw for distance and accuracy, and if by chance you are sitting on the floor holding a football (or in our house, a rugby ball), he will run at you at full speed and put his hat on your numbers, as it were.

Which brings up the question - are we going to encourage him to play football? I wasn't much of a jock in high school - played a little soccer and hockey. There are lots of sports I'd like to see him play - hoops and baseball chief among them - and of course he's at home in the water so there's no doubt he's going to be a surfer. And as previously mentioned, I'd be stoked to get him into a youth rugby program. What worries me about football is not the nature of the game, but the business of it - if he plays, and has talent, then all of a sudden we're getting calls from sleazy alumni boosters and unscrupulous coaches and then he goes to college and majors in "General Studies" or "Food Service Management", drops out in three years to enter the draft, is picked up by the Saints, becomes a steroid-addled freak and ultimately ends up playing with these guys. Is that worth having Ali Larter show up at his house wearing naught but a whipped cream bikini? Wait - stupid question, of course it is - but you get my point.