Lifelong football fan has wonderful reaction to daughter giving him tickets to first game
![Lifelong football fan has wonderful reaction to daughter giving him tickets to first game](https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNjgxMDUzMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc2NDAzMDA5NH0.oCwxMh2O4j4YpYaEb9VcR4cgqBMj2-YUYlyJWfLiXlk/img.jpg?width=1200&height=800&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C256%2C0)
Derek Godwin, 51, is a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan who has never been able to make it to a game. He's lived his entire life in Ocean City, Maryland where he works as a foreman at the city's Convention Center and is looking forward to retiring soon.
One of the main reasons he hasn't been able to attend a game in person is that his daughter, Dayona, who recently graduated college, played basketball throughout high school and college and during football season, he was always at her games.
But all that will change soon after Derek received the most wonderful gift from his daughter and wife for Father's Day, two tickets to the Eagles game versus Washington at FedEx field in Landover, Maryland in week 17.
They chose to get tickets to an away game because it's a closer drive than going to Philadelphia. the after and daughter are going to see the game together.
Derek had the best reaction when he opened up the gift and saw the tickets.
My dad has been an Eagles fan his whole entire life and he\u2019s never been to an NFL game let alone an Eagles game\u2026. Well this Father\u2019s Day that all changed we will experiencing our first game TOGETHER. #FlyEaglesFly @Derek_G88 @Eagles @JalenHurts @bigplay24slay @LaneJohnson65pic.twitter.com/jIGE4spIc5— Day\ud83d\udc95 (@Day\ud83d\udc95) 1624244034
pic.twitter.com/hVzjVDpbns— Day\ud83d\udc95 (@Day\ud83d\udc95) 1624245410
"Stop playing," an emotional Derek said as he opened the tickets. The tickets were accompanied by a letter written by Dayona.
"I wanted to start off by saying how much of an amazing father you are and I am just so blessed and grateful to have someone like you to show me what a man is supposed to be and how I deserve to be treated," she wrote.
"You've been an Eagles fan for a long time ...longer than I've been born and you've never been to an Eagles game," she added, "and every year I've been saying 'we're going to eagles game we're going to eagles game' but unfortunately basketball has always been in the way."
At the end of the letter, she directed her father to turn the page over to see where the seats are and they're incredible, 45-yard line, field-level about ten rows from the front. It'd be hard to find a better seat in the entire stadium.
A tweet of Derek's reaction to getting the tickets went viral and inspired some great responses. A lot of people shared memories of going to games with their fathers.
DM me a Zelle account and I'll buy your dad a cheesesteak to enjoy at the game! My father passed away when I was 10 but my best memories are walking up to the yellow seats at the Vet every other Sunday in the fall.
— George Cole (@GWCOLEIII) June 22, 2021
You're now every Philadelphia Eagles fans favorite daughter... Eagles for life babygirl Eagles for life pic.twitter.com/J1DOtvmBSg
— NvestintoU (@nvestinto) June 21, 2021
What a beautiful tribute to your father. I always say: “Daddies and Daughters do amazing things!" #FlyEaglesFly
— Randy Robinson (@RandyRobinson65) June 24, 2021
Dayona told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the tickets were a way of saying thank you for his sacrifices over all those years. "He just prioritized me, along with my mom. They were committed to just being there supporting me doing everything I had to do," Dayona said. "He put his wants to the side for me."
Her dad is over the moon to go to the game.
"He's just super excited. You'd think he was a little kid on Christmas just opening his presents," Dayona said. "Making my dad happy is everything."
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Men try to read the most disturbing comments women get online back to them.
If you wouldn't say it to their faces, don't type it.
This isn’t comfortable to talk about.
Trigger warning for discussion of sexual assault and violence.
A recent video by Just Not Sports took two prominent female sportswriters and had regular guys* read the awful abuse they receive online aloud.
Sportswriters Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro sat by as men read some of the most vile tweets they receive on a daily basis. See how long you can last watching it.
*(Note: The men reading them did not write these comments; they're just being helpful volunteers to prove a point.)
It starts out kind of jokey but eventually devolves into messages like this:
Awful.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
These types of messages come in response to one thing: The women were doing their jobs.
Those wishes that DiCaro would die by hockey stick and get raped? Those were the result of her simply reporting on the National Hockey League's most disturbing ordeal: the Patrick Kane rape case, in which one of the league's top players was accused of rape.
DiCaro wasn't writing opinion pieces. She was simply reporting things like what the police said, statements from lawyers, and just general everyday work reporters do. In response, she received a deluge of death threats. Her male colleagues didn't receive nearly the same amount of abuse.
It got to the point where she and her employer thought it best to stay home for a day or two for her own physical safety.
The men in the video seemed absolutely shocked that real live human beings would attack someone simply for doing their jobs.
Not saying it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Most found themselves speechless or, at very least, struggling to read the words being presented.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Think this is all just anecdotal? There's evidence to the contrary.
The Guardian did a study to find out how bad this problem really is.
They did a study of over 70 million comments that have been posted on their site since 2006. They counted how many comments that violated their comment policy were blocked.
The stats were staggering.
From their comprehensive and disturbing article:
If you can’t say it to their face... don’t type it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
So what can people do about this kind of harassment once they know it exists?
There are no easy answers. But the more people who know this behavior exists, the more people there will be to tell others it's not OK to talk to anyone like that.
Watch the whole video below:
.This article originally appeared on 04.27.16