For his birthday, my parents gave Greg two tickets to the first Knicks' home playoff game since 2004. My dad never formally claimed the second ticket, but Greg and I assumed it was for him. After all, he bought the tickets, and he’s been a Knicks fan since, well, a long time ago.
So it shocked both of us Monday night when Dad told us the other ticket was mine…
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"Sometimes I give myself the-eee creeps." |
Because he couldn’t go…
Because he was going to a play.
We were aghast, as Dad desperately tried to defend himself:
DAD: There’s no intermission. I’ll get to see the end.
US: How could you?
DAD: It’s the final showing of American Idiot. Billie Joe Armstrong’s making a guest appearance!
ROBBY: Who?
DAD: It’s not an elimination game. It’s the only one I’ll miss!
US: You call yourself a fan?
DAD: They either win, and I’m happy, or they lose, and I’m glad I missed it.
US: It’s the playoffs!
DAD: I didn’t know when the games would be!
US: (silence)
DAD: What am I supposed to do? Mom got me the tickets as a gift.
ME: So you should be able to do what you want with them!
But my last comment caused me to hit the brakes. The exchange was beginning to sound strangely familiar. I thought back to a g-chat conversation Lindsey and I had a little over a week ago, about a wine tasting class she had gotten me...as a gift.
ME (to Lindsey): So when are we doing wine tasting? 5/12?
LINDSEY: Oh yeah, good news about that. They can do the earlier date, 4/21.
ME (to myself): Oh no.
LINDSEY: I figure we’ve put it off long enough. Time to just do it, right?
ME (to myself): Not if Game 3’s that night.
ME (to Lindsey): I thought we had said 5/12.
LINDSEY: Well, you said you could do either.
ME (to myself): I DID say I could do either. Why the heck did I say I could do either? I knew full well when the first round would be! This must’ve been during the six-game losing streak. I lost focus.
LINDSEY: Can you not do 4/21 anymore?
ME (to myself): I could say no, but she’ll ask why. And I’ll have to explain it’s because there’s a 45% chance there’ll be a very important Knicks game that night.
ME (to myself): Whatever, it’s my gift. I should be able to do what I want, right?
ME (to myself): Right. See how that goes over.
ME (to Lindsey): Yeah, 4/21 is fine.
Was Dad any less of a Knicks fan than I was? Of course not. We were two boyfriend/husbands stupidly leaving our playoff fate to chance in order to avoid what at the time felt like unnecessary conflict.
He paid dearly for it. I didn't.
Let's go Knicks!
He paid dearly for it. I didn't.
Let's go Knicks!
