Media Darlings (Or, the Day Joey Got Caught on TV Playing Hooky)

"October Madness" Parenting Lesson:  When calling your son's school on the day of a major playoff game and informing them that he has a fever, know that he just *might* be captured in pictures and video on six different media outlets, looking quite healthy and holding a sign reading, "Dad Said Skool Can Wait."

 

Yes, a sign that almost wasn't  -- Tim decided to make it at the last minute before heading to the last regular-season A's game, where the team clinched the AL West division title -- landed Tim, Joey, his best friend Andy and Andy's dad Eric in the media spotlight.

 

 

 

It turns out Tim may have missed his calling as either a master sign maker, or a PR guru.

 

The boys knew their sign was going to resonate with a lot of people when they were barely twenty feet away from their car in the parking lot, and random fans started taking pictures of the two hooky-playing 6 year-olds.

 

Minutes later, they were interviewed by the KTVU morning news, and a crowd of Oakland fans waiting in line for the Coliseum to open started chanting, "School can wait! School can wait!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to see the beer-swilling fans applauding our little truants. One of our finest parenting moments.

 

That was just the beginning. Soon after, their photo was posted on Oaklandish's Facebook feed, with the caption, "We've got goosebumps over here." It garnered almost 4,000 "likes" and 90 comments. That's a lot of street cred for two Moraga boys!

 

 

 

 

Once in their seats (right above the A's dugout!), they made the Comcast SportsNet pre-game show coverage and were featured later in the game, too, after they caught a glimpse of themselves on the Jumbotron. We were even told -- but haven't confirmed -- that they were on SportsCenter that night!

 

They excited a lot of fans at home! We were texted or emailed a lot of images of our friends' TVs:

 

 

 

 

At that point, the cat was REALLY out of the bag. But we figured there might still be a chance that the boys' school principal had missed the hoopla. We didn't count on the Contra Costa Times featuring them in the Local news section the following day!



 

 

 

The newspaper clipping -- of course -- made it to the bulletin board at the boys' school, and their principal took a look at it and laughed at the poster.

 

Then she did a double take: "What, those are OUR boys!!" 

 

Luckily, she has a sense of humor, and, even better, is an A's fan!