Watching television with big guy
My job as a kid was to stand next to the TV and flip through the
channels for my dad because we didn’t have a remote control. My mom
says it never happened, but I know it’s true.
Once we got a remote control, my dad would fall asleep with it
in his hand. Whenever he fell asleep the TV was always on a show
that no one wanted to watch. He could sleep through anything, but
the minute someone tried to take the remote control from his hand
or turn the station; he woke up.
Watching television with big guy
My job as a kid was to stand next to the TV and flip through the channels for my dad because we didn’t have a remote control. My mom says it never happened, but I know it’s true.
Once we got a remote control, my dad would fall asleep with it in his hand. Whenever he fell asleep the TV was always on a show that no one wanted to watch. He could sleep through anything, but the minute someone tried to take the remote control from his hand or turn the station; he woke up.
One time he was watching a hockey game and a fight broke out. My dad loved to watch hockey and he loved hockey fights. My 9-year old brother changed the channel with the remote and ran out of the room. My dad couldn’t figure out what happened. He yelled at the person closest to him – which happened to be me. My brother hid behind my mom in the kitchen. I still don’t know why he did that.
My mom worked Saturdays, so my dad watched me and my little brother and sister. This was in 1983 and I was 16. One Saturday we were watching MTV (when they used to show videos) and the Stevie Nicks video “Stand Back” was coming on. My dad liked Stevie Nicks.
He sat in front of the TV waiting for her video. After an hour they still hadn’t shown it. He got sleepy and nodded off. Right when he fell asleep the video came on. I didn’t know what to do. I was too scared to wake him up, but I knew he wanted to see the video. So I did nothing. He woke up just as the video ended. He yelled at me that day too.
My dad’s name was Gary, but everyone called him Big Guy. I started to call him that after watching “WKRP in Cincinnati” because that was what Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner) called the boss, Arthur Carlson, played by Gordon Jump.
My dad was born in 1942 in Long Beach. He grew up during the ’50s. When we saw “American Graffiti” in the theater he sang out loud with the soundtrack. I always pictured his teenage years as a Bowery Boys movie. He ran around town. He got into fights. He tried to pick up girls. He was an all-American teenager.
In high school he was a poor student and was cut from the football team because of his grades. He showed me one report card where the teacher wrote “no grade; was never in class.” My mom told me he could have been a pro football player if he had good grades.
He spent two years in the Army. He worked different jobs. He owned a gas station with my uncle. He was an oven repairman for a small company. He went to Goldie Hawn’s house to fix her oven, and also went to Sonny and Cher’s. Later, he serviced vending machines.
When my dad came home from work the TV was his. When he walked through the door you had to surrender the remote to him. He had his own chair that no one could sit in. I used to get up in the middle of the night and watch TV by myself, but eventually my dad would come out of his room and tell me to turn the channel. He didn’t care that he was going back to bed. He just didn’t want me to watch something that he didn’t like.
My appendix burst when I was in the ninth grade so I had to spend a week in the hospital. My dad would stop by after work and visit me. No matter what I was watching on TV, he made me change the channel.
Some of my dad’s favorite shows were “All in the Family,” “M*A*S*H” and “Barney Miller,” and I know he liked “Doogie Howser, M.D.” even though he died during the first season. He liked “Tony Orlando and Dawn” and used to watch “Lawrence Welk” every week. He also liked “Wonder Woman,” but I think it was more because of Lynda Carter than the actual show.
When Luke and Laura got married on “General Hospital” he called in sick to work so he could stay home with my sister and watch it.
Every year he would try to watch the whole Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon. Whenever “The Ten Commandments” was on TV we had to watch it. He knew most of the lines and would say them before the actors.
No matter what shows he liked, nothing compared to Sunday football, especially if the Los Angeles Rams were playing. He had a little shrine set up in front of the TV. He wore his Rams hat. He threw things at the TV when they lost. I think his greatest dream was to see the Rams win the Super Bowl.
He sat in front of the TV all day on Sundays. He watched every game that was on. We couldn’t talk during games. We weren’t allowed to ask questions. We had to stay in another room. Sometimes my mom would take us on field trips so my dad could watch the game without anyone bothering him.
That’s why I never became a big football fan. I would have loved to sit with him and cheer on the same team. It would have been great for him explain the game to me instead of telling me to be quiet every time I talked. It would have been great to share his passion with him, but instead I grew up watching Abbot and Costello movies in another room.
My mom tells a story about one Christmas when my dad was at a bar called Happy’s Tavern watching the Rams in a playoff game. My mom was waiting for him because they had to go to a Christmas party. The Rams lost, my dad was mad and got into a bar fight.
Someone hit him across the mouth with a pool cue. Another guy smashed a pitcher of beer over his head. My mom had to go to the hospital and pick him up instead of going to her Christmas party. His upper lip was completely split open. He wore a mustache for the rest of his life to cover up the scar across his mouth.
After that he didn’t drink again. I think that’s why he liked to stay at home by himself and watch football games. Maybe he still felt guilty about that incident. If he stayed home and watched the game alone he couldn’t get into any trouble.
He used to get mad at his sister, who lived in Orange and would call him during football games. He would ask her if they had football in Southern California. After a while he’d hold the receiver away from his ear and let her talk away. Every couple of minutes he would put the phone to his ear and grunt something so she would think he was listening.
My dad didn’t make a lot of money. He restocked vending machines for a living. But he worked hard. He supported his family. He yelled at me when I was bad and spanked me when he thought I deserved it.
He was a simple guy who came home from work and relaxed in front of the TV. He didn’t have many hobbies. He liked to bowl ,and when my little brother played football my dad coached him.
I wasn’t good at sports so I watched TV with him. Most of my TV habits are from my dad. We watched “Casablanca” together. Whenever there was a John Wayne movie on we watched it together. That’s how I spent my time with my dad.
Sometimes when I’m at my mom’s house I can still hear his voice. I can see him sitting in front of the TV with the remote control in his hand. I think about those Saturday afternoons and how I thought that he would be around forever.
Even though he’s been gone 17 years I still miss him.
