In a normal world, my son would be getting ready for the U.S. National Team Regional that he was registered for in May. But because of the Coronavirus Pandemic, all the regionals have sadly been canceled. In a normal world, my family and I would have probably gone to another New York Guardians game or two. But the pandemic forced the XFL to cancel the remainder of their inaugural season.  

This is a difficult time for our country, and it’s been immensely challenging for the kids who are going through online lessons instead of going to school. They can’t see their friends, other than on Facetime or Zoom. They’re also missing out on sports and at this time of the year in our home that includes lacrosse, baseball and even football.

So, without any games to play in school or in little league, without any games to go to in person, and without any live games to watch on television, we’ve had to be creative in terms of getting our sports fix –specifically our football fix.

The easiest thing that we’ve been able to do is just go outside and play catch with the football on our front lawn. Sometimes I’ll just be the official quarterback (my route running stopped when I suffered a hip injury two years ago) as my sons go against each other. Depending on time, we’ll play to three or five touchdowns. Getting outside, even if it’s just for a little while in front of our home, has been important just to get out of the house.

And sometimes, my kids are allowed to see some friends who might happen to be walking by or riding their bicycles with their family while practicing social distancing.

We’ve also found ways to involve ourselves with football inside our home. I’m not very good at it, but the videogame Madden occupies some of my kids’ time when they’re not doing their schoolwork or outside. Most of the time the two boys play but sometimes I get a chance to play too. It’s generally not a good result for me. Playing videogames shouldn’t occupy a lot of a child’s time, but I can tell you that Madden has taught the kids a thing or two about football. 

One day last week, I thought we would have a little fun indoors, so I went upstairs to the attic and pulled out some boxes of sports cards and memorabilia that I have attained over the years. Jared is really into trading cards and he has a great time going through my binder of football cards including a lot of old Jets cards. Bradley, on the other hand, seemed to gravitate towards the Starting Lineup figures, especially the combo package of Joe Namath and Don Maynard. 

As you can tell from this story and others that I’ve written, my family and I are Jets fans. While we’re excited about who the Jets are going to take in the first round of the NFL Draft next month and we’re hopeful that there will be a training camp and a season. We’ve also decided to spend some time looking back at some classic Jets games. YouTube is a great way to find a lot of old games, but I also have Super Bowl III on DVD. So, we popped that in one day to see Joe Willie and the guys shock the world on January 12th, 1969 when they beat the Colts.

Even with what is going on in the world right now and specifically in our country, there are still plenty of ways to enjoy some football inside or outside of your home.

Peter is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network, FOX News Headlines 24/7 and WCBS 880 Radio in New York. His son Bradley plays middle school football on Long Island and is a participant in the U.S. National Team program while his younger son Jared plays flag football. Peter, his wife Sheryl and the boys are busy cheering on the New York Jets and the XFL’s New York Guardians when they’re not at a youth football field.