No self restraint

I was never a big sports fan. I generally loved whatever team whoever around me loved. Growing up, the Braves were pretty unstoppable. My brother was an avid baseball card collector and he loved the Braves. So, I too would root for the Braves. Moving to NYC, I decided of the two NY teams, the Mets were less evil than the Yankees, so I rooted for the Mets.

Then I started to date Jeff.... and he didn't find that behavior funny at all.

He rebuked me for straying from my Philadelphia roots, and told me that I was never, ever, ever to ever say that I liked or would root for the Mets or the Braves because they were in the same division as the Phillies and thus became our mortal enemies.

In the past 7 years that we've been together, Jeff's converted me. I used to only be able to watch 3 or 4 innings of any baseball game before I called it quits. I really only ever cared about baseball in October during the playoffs. I could care less about actually going to a baseball game.

This year, Jeff purchased the MLB at bat app for his iPhone. So we've got access to the Philadelphia radio broadcasts of all the games. We're also able to watch most of the games through this app (which we hook up to our TV), so I can honestly say that this year, I've watched and listened to more baseball games than I ever have in my entire life.

Jeff's love of Philly sports doesn't end with Baseball. He's also a HUGE Eagles fan, but to be fair, I've always loved the Eagles too -- I mean, I'm from Delaware, and Philly is the closest professional teams we've got. I went to Syracuse University where Donovan McNabb also went to and graduated from, who then led the Eagles to 4 NFC east championships, 5 NFC Championships and 1 Super Bowl... (though no super bowl victory, but that's not the point).

All this to say, we're big fans of Philly sports.

Lately, I've noticed that many stores (Old Navy, Target, even Victoria's secret) has started to sell team gear. I've finally got myself an Eagles T-shirt, Jeff recently got me a Phillies (Chooch!) jersey, and Jeff now has both as well. Through her baby registry, BG was set for a while with a Phillies onesie, bib, hat, and blanket.

But as babies do.. BG grew out of her Phillies gear. Her bib is comically small on her now. Her hat barely fits on her head anymore. Her onesie needs to be stretched so much that it just doesn't look all that comfortable on her anymore. So, I've been in the market for some cute sports gear for the BG.

I mean, I love girly dresses and frocks and rompers but I don't want to raise a girly girl. I want BG to play and enjoy sports, and to run around and play outside. I want her to be fearless, and play in the dirt. I want her to to be a little tom boy that could also rock a cute dress.

So, every time I would go into Target, I'd look at all the sports gear looking for a deal on tshirts or little outfits. Every time I'd go into Old Navy I'd look through their baby clothes. But alas, living in northern Jersey means only Mets, Yankees, Giants and Jets gear. Nothing Philly - as it should be I guess, but still!!! I perused online sites and found stuff, and asked Jeff, should I buy, but he would always turn me down saying BG doesn't need that.

It should be noted that Jeff and I are saving for a house. I mean, it feels like we've been saving forever, but we're really trying to buckle down and save, save, save. So we got together and made a budget and have agreed upon how much we can spend on certain things, and every time I'd pick up an outfit that I thought I should buy for BG, Jeff says, no... we need to buy a house, which always brings me back down to reality.

Anyways, this weekend, we went down to Delaware to visit my parents. In addition to visiting my parents, we needed to pick up a few things (tax free shopping, baby!) so we went to Target and lo and behold, where they would normally have a wall of NY sports paraphernalia, they had a wall of Philly sports! T-shirts, hoodies, cheerleader outfits. Everything Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, etc. I picked up an Eagles cheerleading outfit and I looked at Jeff and said... BG neeeeeds this.

He took one look at it and said, yeah she does, but then he looked at the price tag of $26.00 and his eyes grew cold and he firmly said no she doesn't.

Dejected, I put it down, and then picked up an Eagles hoodie, for only $19.00. I looked up at Jeff with puppy dog eyes and pleaded. BG NEEEEEDS this! I mean, remember the red hoodie pic?! BG looks great in hoodies!

And he took one look at it and his eyes - which were cold and stern before melted and he said, oh crap... yeah she does.

Then of course I kept looking and found a red phillies t-shirt. I picked it up, glanced at the price tag and exclaimed....

It's on sale for $9! BG NEEDS this too!

Jeff, with a defeated look on his face agreed. Giddy, I held these items close to my chest as we finished shopping and took them to the register. As we were walking out of the Target, Jeff shook his head and said, I can't believe we just spent $30 on unnecessary clothes just because they were Phillies and Eagles related. Why couldn't I have had more self control?

Giddy, I clutched the clothes a little bit tighter and thanks him for not having the self control to tell me no.

Then of course, my dad surprised us by picking up a stuffed Phanatic for BG at the Build-a-bear. BG seems to be set with her sports gear for now!

BTW, it should be noted that Jeff has said if BG EVER comes home saying she likes any NY teams, then he's going to purchase tickets for the next phillies game and take her down to Philly ASAP to correct that behavior as soon as possible.