A little non-football entry today. Hopefully I'm providing a good mix for readers of this blog. The last thing I want to do is bore you to death.

COD Jr. is a young lad. He loves animated movies. He is also a collector in the way that squirrels store away food for the winter. When something involves a set, he can't have just one thing...he has to have the whole set. Now is not the time to get into a "you as parent just need to say NO" discussion. Believe me, "NO!" is the most used word in my lexicon each day.

Still, there are times that I want to lad to have joy and have something to look forward to. Especially during the long winter months of the northern winter.

Whenever there is a huge animated movie launch, either Burger King or McDonalds have a toy release to go along with the movie. Remember Star Wars I? Burger King had the movie tie in and had a huge toy release. COD Jr. had to have each character and being a big Star Wars fan myself I thought it would be cool to collect them.

If I only knew what a day-consuming chore that would become. I was visiting every dang Burger King in a 50-mile radius and begging the have certain toys to fill out the collection, such as the elusive Darth Vader BK toy.

Not to mention the fine nutritional value we were all getting by eating Whoppers nine times a week. Then I got smart.

Along came the Spongebob Squarepants - Lost in Time movie, and true to form Burger King annoucned they would be bringing the characters to its restaurants for customers to enjoy. The promotion would give Spongebob buffs more than 20 exciting toys when they purchased a Kids Meal at BK.

I was not about to repeat my Star Wars experience. I simply went to eBay and searched for Burger King SpongBob set and was amazed at the number of complete sets immediately available. I found one with a good seller rating, cheap shipping and placed my Buy Now order. The complete set appeared on my doorstep within short order.

Then there was the question: Do I give the lad the complete set right away? What value would I be teaching him by doing so. After some thinking, I decided to take the following approach: I spoke to my son and told him that I had just received a call from the Toy Fairy. If my son were to do his daily chores, be kind to others, and do his best in school the Toy Fairy would visit each night while he slept and leave ONE of the SpongeBob toys as reward.

For almost a month, my son would race out of bed each morning and race to the breakfast table to see what toy awaited him. It become fun for him as well as my wife and I. It gave him incentive to do as he was told and learned that by doing so he would be rewarded.

Since then, sets for Fantastic Four, Snoopy, and other movie-tie ins have appeared. I have been able to get complete sets via eBay for usually less than $20. If you take into account paying for the meals, running to the eatery, and the poor diet....this was a bargain.

This week, the lad has begun to get a visit from the Toy Fairy in response to the release of the Spiderwick Chronicles movie. The mornings have been fun-filled. And another cold winter has become a little less drab.

Coming Saturday: My 1997 interview with then defensive coordinator Foge Fazio

Posted by briankeithmaas@msn.com at February 29, 2008 01:01 AM