It's the thought of me, one of my sons and our family checkbook ... alone together in the supermarket.

It doesn't happen often, usually only before a big televised baseball or football game. But when it does happen, it's catastrophic--both for the nutritional balance in our diet, and for the balance in our checking account.

The bad news for my wife ... there's just such a game on TV on Tuesday night when Major League Baseball telecasts its annual All-Star Game. And my oldest son and I have decided to revive the old family custom.

It's a tradition that was born years ago. Mike and I would prepare for an evening in front of a big game with a trip to the grocery store. And we didn't exactly have fruit and vegetables on our shopping list ... heck, we didn't even have a list!

We'd start out on the ice cream aisle by grabbing a half gallon of our favorite (you can always tell your smart shoppers ... they get the ice cream first so that it has plenty of time to soften before you get home).

We'd work our way through the chips and peanuts, grab a bag or two of candy, toss in a couple of bottles of soda ... oh, and don't forget the Screaming Yellow Zonkers!

Then we'd zero in on the actual meal. Hot dogs and chili.

We were pleased. We had the four basic food groups of baseball--sodas, peanuts, malts and dogs ... smothered in onions and Gulden's spicy brown mustard, of course. Ah, that's livin'!

By the time we finished our shopping spree, we'd have a cart full of groceries. Of course, the combined food value of our bounty probably didn't even equal a bowl of breakfast cereal--and I'm not talking Special K here ... more like Cocoa Puffs!

We initiated my new wife to the family tradition last fall during the football season. When we got the goods home, she cringed as we unpacked the six bags of nutrition-free junk food on the counter.

"How much did you spend on this junk?" she asked sternly.

"Oh, I'm not sure," I stalled. "It was about, oh, I don't know ... "

"How much!"

"$89.73."

She didn't speak to me for days.

You think I'm kidding. It's all true.

But that was in the past. The kid and I don't do that sort of thing anymore. We're well aware of the fat content in our food, and we closely watch our fat and caloric intake.

Still, old habits die hard. So in anticipation of the All-Star Game this Tuesday, the urge was too much to control. We looked at each other and there was a certain chemistry that's difficult to explain. Our two brilliant minds were thinking as one ... "Food!"

Still, our trip to the supermarket to prepare for this game was much more sensible.

Before we were out of control. Before we would have eaten 1,000 grams of fat ... each! Before we would have run wild down the aisles of the Safeway.

This time it was different.

We still started on the ice cream aisle, but we selected the low fat yogurt.

There were fat free pretzels instead of chips, turkey dogs replaced the ballpark franks and we selected the lite buns. Oh, and don't forget the Diet Pepsi.

We still ended up with six bags of groceries, and we still shelled out more than 70 bucks. But at least we could hold our heads high when we unloaded our provisions on the kitchen counter.

"I'm impressed," said my wife when she saw the turkey dogs.

"And is that a vegetable?" she asked with a certain wonderment when Mike pulled out the ears of corn.

"What did you expect," I said with a certain cockiness in my voice after what I considered a job well done at the market. "Mike, did you get the Grey Poupon?"

Before he could answer, she interjected, "Hey, what's this?"

"Screaming Yellow Zonkers?" I said with a bit of a blush. "How'd those get in there?"

What can I say. Hey ... man does not live by fat free yogurt alone!

Want to talk? Give me a call at 408.354.3110, or write to dsparrer@svcn.com.