Matt - Sports with Dad

Dad always loved to play with us, especially when it came to sports. He helped us when we were playing city league soccer, baseball and basketball, and even helped coach our basketball team. He would come to our soccer practices by the house on Johnson Court, and play with us in the fields there. I remember how he would kick the ball from his hand, straight up, and it would go SO high. It amazed me! I especially liked our games in the backyard of Johnson Court. We played a baseball game, Steal the Bacon, where one person would be between bases, and two were "on base," and the one in the middle had to try to get to a base without being tagged. We had soccer games there, with the big plants serving as goal posts. We put pecan shells around the grass, and it stunk when the ball got stuck behind one of the plants, because we were usually barefoot and the pecans were sharp! I'm sure the games got more competitive and fun for Dad when we moved out to the country. There, we were coordinated enough to play 21, Around the World and Two on Two games of basketball (or more, if Erin played…let's be honest though, I was better at climbing trees than I was at basketball, so I was more often than not an onlooker). Our grass was big enough to have full-sized sports games, and we didn't have to worry about hitting the neighbors' windows, so we could go all-out. We often played with Dad as the QB for both offensive teams, and so we would often find ourselves panting in a huddle, Dad all sweaty, drawing hooks and lines and zigzags and other figures on his hand to lay out the next play for us. Dad could always throw perfect spirals, and he tried to teach us. He tried to pass on all of his sports knowledge to us, but he ended up passing on something more: his love for sports, his love for life, and his love for us.

-Matt