As many of you may know, my wife and I have been expecting a new addition to the family and on Friday, October 28 at 9:40 pm. .Miles Dean Friedman was officially Tar Heel born. My responsibility now is to ensure that he is Tar Heel bred.
It seems I may have some competition however.

My wife is a Buckeye and while she has shown no opposition to our son growing up a lover of all things UNC, she wants him drenched in scarlet and gray when he eventually says it. With the help of her family and friends, he is well on his way. He has a plethora of Ohio State gear and it does not stop there.
A quick glance into our stockpile of baby clothes reveals some of wife’s biggest flaws. For example, my baby had a Detroit Tigers outfit months before he was born. Yes it’s true…my wife is a Tigers fan.
Fortunately, her best friend and her husband have more sense than she does and did what any true friend would do. Tom and Sherry “stepped up to the plate” if you will and got Miles some awesome Yankees gear. Nothing says cute and cuddly yet handsome and dashing like dressing your son in Yankee pinstripes.
He also has several Detroit Red Wings shirts and baby accessories, however, I have failed to provide him with the proper and debonair style of a Carolina Hurricanes onesie. I don’t want to dress him in hockey gear too much for fear that someone will think he is Canadian. If he grows up a
Red Wings fan then he might as well be Canadian.
He may be doomed either way. One of my biggest fears is that with my wife’s north-west Ohio accent that the first time my son recites the alphabet it will go something like “A eh, B eh, C eh, D eh…etc.”
Miles has a few Pittsburg Steelers items, however, thanks again to Tom and Sherry he now has a nice Miami Dolphins ensemble. Trying to coerce my son into becoming a Miami Dolphins fan like his father may actually constitute child abuse or neglect on my part. While the last thing Steeler nation needs is yet another member, I can tell you that growing up a Dolphins fan is hard and humbling work. Maybe he will become a Panthers fan and surprise us both.
Neither of us has supplied him with any NBA gear and until an agreement is made and the lockout ends I won’t be. When the time comes I will try and get him into a Charlotte Bobcats creeper set before my wife covers him in green clovers and other Boston Celtics paraphernalia.
It’s all fun and games in the end and I don’t care who his favorite NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL team is…so long as he’s Tar Heel bred he will be just fine.
David Friedman is a long-time contributor to Roanoke-Chowan Publications. A Bertie High School graduate, he and his wife currently reside in Wilmington. David can be reached via e-mail at dave@gate811.net.