My son is going to beat me at tennis soon, and I don't like it.

Also, I really do like it. It's the natural way of things,

but I don't want to rush it. The other day, he needed some encouragement. He's been in a little bit

of a slump tennis-wise. He's slicing his volleys. He's not quite committed to rotating all the

way around to the continental grip

when he gets up by the net. So he's kind of in that pancake grip. And so all of his volleys have

slice on them. And they don't go very deep into the court. And then they kind of set up and just

tee up for his opponents. And really, that's all he needs to fix. And he's going to take this huge

leap forward. So he was discouraged

the other night because he had a bad week at tennis. The season's just starting right now.

And I went out to hit with him to see if we could get a few things straightened out and diagnose

what was wrong. And there was a part of me that was like, you know what would be a really big

encouragement here on the front end of the tennis season. Just lose to him. Give him that right of passage win the

first time he ever beats his dad for real when his dad's trying hard at sports. I'm like, no,

that's not how this happens. He has to overcome me.

He has to surpass me.

He has to look me in the eye and see the agony on my face of, dang it, I lost, and I lost for real.

So I didn't give him the match.

I might have taken it a little easy to give some encouragement, some quarter, but you

dads understand, he has to earn it, right? But also you dads understand, it's going to be a sweet,

sweet day when I walk under the court with my one and only son, having never lost to him, and then we're

out there for a couple hours, and I lose to him, and then we come out there for a couple hours, and I lose to him,

...