Play Balls!

The cover story on CNN.com tonight featured the above photo and talked about the challenges faced by same sex parents and their adopted children. It was about how laws that affect them vary wildly from state to state and that good old fashioned bigotry is still the runaway leader when comparing the obstacles faced by gay families.

Personally, I could care less the sexual orientation of a couple raising a child, as long as the child's needs come first and the home is filled with unconditional love. Lord knows there's certainly a shortage of that these days. Just ask Ma and Pa Lohan or the Hilton folks. They'll tell ya.

All I'm asking those parents is not to try so hard to be something that they're not. Just because they think society wants them to act a certain way is no reason to do so. Because in the end, trying to be someone that you're not just makes you look more foolish than you actually are.

Take exhibits A and B above. Nice enough fellows, I'm sure. Wanting to do right by their adorable son. But let's not go overboard on the Norman Rockwell moment, okay? Sure, dads teaching their sons baseball is about as Americana as it gets. But when your blatant lack of experience with the game leaves you so clueless as to not even know which hand to put the glove on, it's probably best to kick sport ball to the curb and go with the things you actually DO know something about.

There's no shame in knowing more about show tunes than home run statistics. It's OK to be better versed in fashion design than Ultimate Fighting. You're no less of a man if you teach your boy interior decorating instead of bow hunting. The lesson is to just stick to what you know. Otherwise you both end up looking like idiots.

Well, the kid really more so than you. I mean, after all, he's the one trying to shag fly balls with his glove on the wrong hand, a new pair of Stan Smith tennies on his feet and a bottle of Perrier in his bat bag. Plus, if he's of Latin decent like the kid above ... well, damn ... that's just downright criminal.