Most of us who have had kids have experienced the WTF-I-literally-looked-away-for-two-seconds chaos of toddlerhood. One of my daughters walked out of the ice cream shop at the zoo with another family while I was looking at ice cream flavors when she was three. If you haven’t experienced it, it’s hard to understand how quickly a wee one can get away from you when you unpeel your eyes from then even for a few seconds.
Fortunately, most of us don’t experience such moments on live television in front of a huge audience. That’s not the case for Morgan Tucker, mom of 2-year-old Zaydek, though.
Tucker told Good Morning America that she turned her head for just a second during the pro soccer match in Cincinnati Saturday night, which gave Zaydek just enough time to duck under the fence and sprint onto the pitch about 70 minutes into the game. To make matters even more mortifying, Tucker and her family were sitting in club seats on the sidelines as guests of her employer when this happened. The dash and chase and slide-tackle-scoop-up were captured on video, and even from a bird’s eye view, it’s hilarious.
Go, little man, go.
We hope this mother and her young pitch invader are having a great day. 😂
https://t.co/hKfwa6wyWI— Major League Soccer (@MLS)
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Cincinnati Enquirer photojournalist Sam Greene managed to get a close-up pic of mom and kiddo as they rushed back to the sidelines and shared it on Twitter, writing, “A young pitch invader was quickly scooped up by their own personal security detail without incident.”
Zaydek and his mom had a great time at the game https://t.co/53TgisKvis
— Sam Greene (@SGdoesit)
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Normally, a field streaker would not get their big moment televised, as giving such folks the attention they seek only encourages more people to disrupt games. But the pure innocence and obliviousness of a toddler racing to join the big boys and a mom hastily chasing after him is just too adorable not to share.
“He was just running after them,” Tucker told GMA. “He was just laughing and had no idea what he did.”
Tucker said she was worried Zaydek was going to get hit in the head with a soccer ball. He had been enjoying the game but would be upset when the players would run to the other side of the field. He wanted to be right there with them.
Clearly, she never expected that he would actually try to join them on the pitch. As she ran out to grab him, the reaction from the crowd made it clear that he was noticed.
“Everyone was screaming and cheering and I knew they were not cheering for the game,” she said. “My face was as red as a tomato.”
However, according to TODAY, the gameplay never even stopped. Kiddo bolted onto the field just when the players were heading in the other direction, mom dashed and grabbed with lightning-fast reflexes, and all was well. Phew.
At least the Tucker family will always have a fun story to tell at parties.