My dad died when I was 16. He wasn’t here long. But he was here long enough to say some things that have stuck with me forever.
You know, the basics. Be nice, treat people well, work hard, work before play. And some others that didn’t hit me till later. Like what is going on every day in our lives right now. The Cavs and the Indians have me thinking a lot about him lately. In short, my dad gave me the love of sports. And that’s an accurate sentence. LOVE the SPORT. Not in the winning and losing, but in the passion and the reflection sport can give us – to life. He always thought that if you were playing the game for the right reason, the winning would take care f itself. He flat out told me to “practice your passion.” And even though he never heard me say one word on the radio ever….I have done so in my professional life all these years. Practiced my passion.
He once said I should learn to play golf. He was a scratch player (par), I am not. So he taught me how to play, and how to understand the game. He said I should learn it, as it is about the only game you can play your whole life long. He was right, been playing my whole life and there’s no end in sight. I love the game, and if you love something, you respect it, and treat it right. I play golf because of the game, and relationships the game forges and not my scores. There are good scoring days and not good scoring days. But I am always on the course with my best friends on earth. Everyone should be so lucky.
The Tribe and the Cavs have me thinking now too. I have been fans of them my entire life. My dad was too as he took me to games all the time. We went to Opening Day every year, and went to countless Cavs games, especially during the Miracle Year at the Coliseum! And it was always for the fun that we could get from the game. It wasn’t about winning and losing, it was about going to the game. And now that both of our favorite teams are having great runs, I am glad I have been a fan all these decades. And as the Cavs continue another deep march through April and May, he would love this.
But what he would really love, is that I still go to the games for all the same reasons we did during the down years. That I go, buy a beer, a dog, and simply enjoy a day at the ball yard. For no other reason that it was a fun thing to do.
Dad was right.
