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Re: Anyone have any cool stories about sports and your Dad?
I have so many fond memories involving sports with my dad, it's hard to know where to start. He worked his butt off to provide for us, but he always made the time to coach our baseball teams (I have one brother) and play APBA baseball (the old school board game). In the process, when he compiled the stats for our teams, he taught me how to figure them all out myself. As a young adult, I recall my frustration trying to relate to a friend how ERA is calculated. He just didn't get it and all I could think of was how lucky I was and am to have had an involved dad who took the time to teach me these things. He was and is an amazing role model. Although I don't have any kids of my own, I have always maintained that if I do, if I can do 1/2 the job my dad did with us, my kid is going to be a heluva lucky child...
Probably the most fond memory I have is all the birthday parties my parents arranged and the efforts my dad took to make these events awesome! Each year, I was allowed to invite 10 of my best friends to either a basketball or a football game. With all the risks (especially in the NYC area, where I grew up) there is absolutely no way I would do that these days. My dad seemed to love it and I think he took a lot of pride doing special things like that for us.
In 1980, I believe, I opted to attend the Jets vs. Saints game at Shea Stadium. The Jets were pretty grim. I think they went 4-12 that season, but the Saints were aweful beyond belief. They hadn't won a game to that point and the team was going through some severe cocaine problems with some of its "star" players, as documented in an SI article about a year later. We sat in the endzone bleachers and endured some brutal winter weather. Moreover, the Saints actually beat the Jets that afternoon, 21-20, if my memory serves me. It was the only game New Orleans won all season...
On the way home in our green, faux wood panelled Ford LTD, we broke down. At this point, it was snowing tons and in 1980, we didn't have cell phones to call for assistance. Including the 10 friends I invited, there were 13 of us altogether (including me, my brother and my dad), all crammed in the station wagon. We were eventually discovered and towed home, but it must've taken 3-4 hours before that happened. The most significant thing about the experience was how patient my dad was. We were a bunch of little buttheads and he endured our buffoonery without getting rattled once. Next time I talk with him, I'm going to remind him of this. I don't think he knows what an impact that day has had on me. Because he has done so many wonderful things for us, specific events get lost among them all.
Apologies to all the other great dads out there, but without any doubt in the world, I have been the beneficiary of having the greatest father ever to have raised children. Thanks dad!!!!!!!!!
I have so many fond memories involving sports with my dad, it's hard to know where to start. He worked his butt off to provide for us, but he always made the time to coach our baseball teams (I have one brother) and play APBA baseball (the old school board game). In the process, when he compiled the stats for our teams, he taught me how to figure them all out myself. As a young adult, I recall my frustration trying to relate to a friend how ERA is calculated. He just didn't get it and all I could think of was how lucky I was and am to have had an involved dad who took the time to teach me these things. He was and is an amazing role model. Although I don't have any kids of my own, I have always maintained that if I do, if I can do 1/2 the job my dad did with us, my kid is going to be a heluva lucky child...
Probably the most fond memory I have is all the birthday parties my parents arranged and the efforts my dad took to make these events awesome! Each year, I was allowed to invite 10 of my best friends to either a basketball or a football game. With all the risks (especially in the NYC area, where I grew up) there is absolutely no way I would do that these days. My dad seemed to love it and I think he took a lot of pride doing special things like that for us.
In 1980, I believe, I opted to attend the Jets vs. Saints game at Shea Stadium. The Jets were pretty grim. I think they went 4-12 that season, but the Saints were aweful beyond belief. They hadn't won a game to that point and the team was going through some severe cocaine problems with some of its "star" players, as documented in an SI article about a year later. We sat in the endzone bleachers and endured some brutal winter weather. Moreover, the Saints actually beat the Jets that afternoon, 21-20, if my memory serves me. It was the only game New Orleans won all season...
On the way home in our green, faux wood panelled Ford LTD, we broke down. At this point, it was snowing tons and in 1980, we didn't have cell phones to call for assistance. Including the 10 friends I invited, there were 13 of us altogether (including me, my brother and my dad), all crammed in the station wagon. We were eventually discovered and towed home, but it must've taken 3-4 hours before that happened. The most significant thing about the experience was how patient my dad was. We were a bunch of little buttheads and he endured our buffoonery without getting rattled once. Next time I talk with him, I'm going to remind him of this. I don't think he knows what an impact that day has had on me. Because he has done so many wonderful things for us, specific events get lost among them all.
Apologies to all the other great dads out there, but without any doubt in the world, I have been the beneficiary of having the greatest father ever to have raised children. Thanks dad!!!!!!!!!
Once I hit an inside the park home run and just beat the throw to the plate and Dad called me safe. A parent from the other team said to Dad that he was cheating. WOW, wrong thing to say! Dad is a super mellow guy, but that day he was ready to take on Satan himself! The other father decided to shut up and just sit down....good choice.
. My wife did get a few pictures of me opening the gloves, so I'll try to get them and post them!
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