As ye reap, so shall ye sow. Or something like that.

On Sunday, the Broncos played the Steelers in the divisional round of the playoffs.  Now the Broncos have been to the playoffs for most of the years that this kid has been cognizant of football.  Now, I've always liked the idea of having a couple of football fans around the house to watch games with me and Glenn has certainly become Super Fan since we got married (there's a particular place on which to sit in the den that seems to influence the outcome of the game if he's sitting on it...) But I'm still the one who stomps around the house after a bad loss and cheers loudly enough to scare both cats and nieces when things are going well.  So let's talk about the game on Sunday.

The Broncos were predicted by most experts to win  and Will knew that because he spends a lot of spare time reading sports articles on my phone, his dad's phone and the Ipad.  Want to know who played Seattle in 2013?  Will probably knows.  What to know the Broncos highest score ever?  Will looked that up yesterday.  Reina shows interest but more in the variety of "who are we cheering for" and that's okay with me.  But then there's Will.  He woke up on Sunday and wore his #22 jersey to church (it's gameday and there are special dress code dispensations for gameday), came home afterwards and added his Broncos pj bottoms to the ensemble.  We sat down to watch the game and everything was alright for a while.  The Broncos settled for two field goals in the first quarter and we started to feel a little antsy.  Pittsburgh scored a touchdown and suddenly the Broncos are down 7-6.  It didn't get better in the second quarter and I can't even remember what precipitated it but Will ripped off both is lucky jersey and pants and proceeded to yell about the game, the team, no touchdowns, disappointment, etc., etc., etc.  It wasn't even halftime yet.  He sat on the sofa in his underwear and grumbled while I tried to give the pep talk of "there's still a lot of game left, we believe in our team, it's not over with yet, etc. etc. etc."  All I really wanted to do was take off my lucky Broncos shirt and sit next to him about pout.

So the second half started, the Broncos started playing a little better, or maybe the Steelers played worse.  At some point, Will's jersey came back on and the Broncos pulled off an ugly win and move on to the AFC Championship next week.  Will was deliriously happy and is all ready to cheer them on again.

My parenting dilemma is this:  do I punish him for his lack of faith in the team or do I credit him for turning the game around?  It's only weird if it doesn't work.

Go Broncos.