My nephew's Bar Mitzvah was scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) on Saturday. Accordingly, my son, my dad (who had given up his tickets to attend the BM!) and I were able to watch the entire 1st half before we had to leave. We heard some of the 3rd quarter in the car.
On the way to the Temple my wife confirmed why I married her by commenting, "Well, you can just check the game on your phone during services, right?" G-d, I love her.
So, as the service progressed, I did my bast "summoner" act, using Yahoo! Sportstacular to follow the plays via text (no audio, no video). I got lucky once as my phone was securely in my pocket as I was called up for my first honor during the service. I was not so lucky the second time as I rushed to shove the phone away as I got up for my second honor.
During the sermon, the rabbi mentioned that this weeks Torah story is about the beginning of the battles between Moses and the Pharaoh. He commented that the story of that fight is "...much more interesting than the 49ers versus Saints game that some of you may be missing". At that, almost every head in the house turned to me and smiled. I acknowledged the moment with a short nod.
As the service progressed, my 7-year-old 49ers fan of a son, who was sitting with his uncle and cousins a few seats and rows away, would come over for a little "summoning" of his own. Finally, the inevitable happened: He had to use the restroom. So I quickly volunteered and we headed for the hallway. There was about 4:30 left in the game - He never made it to the restroom, but he did not seem to mind. I am starting to wonder if it was some kind of ruse...
We spent the next several minutes hitting "refresh" on the app, living the moment as it happened through the words, hanging on every update.
When the game ended, I picked him up and we danced around a little doing a silent scream. I then maneuvered in front of one of the doors that were open to the synagogue to where basically only my wife could see us (others probably could, but I did not care), raised my son up a little with one arm a gave the thumbs up with the other hand. She smiled.
My son and I then took a few moments to compose ourselves and went back in for the rest of the service (as I passed behind my dad on the way to our seats, I told him we had won - he had a great look on his face). The party was awesome.
January 14, 2012 was a very good day for the MotionMan family.
MotionMan