Questions from a 3 year old

One of my favorite moments over the Thanksgiving break came as Luke and I were enjoying some football together on the couch. It's a rite of passage I've been looking forward to, teaching my boy about all the finer points of the world's greatest sport. Since Luke is only 3, we're starting with the basics: Peyton=good, Gators and Bama=bad, and the inherient flaws and limitations of UT's "Mustang" package. (Tampa 2, anyone?)

So we were watching a game when Luke starts to ask me a series of questions about the football players helmets. It went something like this:

Luke: "What is that, Daddy?"

Me: "A helmet, buddy"

Luke: "Why do they wear those?"

Me: "So they don't hurt their heads."

Luke: "What's that on the side of their heads?"

Me: "That's the team logo...it shows everyone which team they're on..."

And on and on it went. But I loved it, because I was getting to bond with my boy AND watch the game. Perfect!

All of a sudden, Luke gets this really confused look on his face. Then he starts to look upset. I ask him what's wrong, and then he asks me this golden nugget:

Luke: "Daddy, do football players have ears?"

So classic. I assured him that yes, those are just helmets that they wear ON TOP of their heads. That underneath, all football players do indeed have ears. Just not all of them have brains.