Tag Archives: fall

by - 0 comments

Lessons Learned From Sports and Sons

The scoreboard said we lost our playoff game today… but I walked off that field proud of my son and my team.

This season, my son played up with the fourth graders even though he’s only in third grade. From day one, he never used that as an excuse. He just showed up… every single time. Not one missed practice. Not one late arrival. Every drill, every rep, every huddle… he gave his full effort.

He earned his spot as a starter on offense and defense. He returned kicks and he did everything we asked and more, without ever complaining. He worked hard, listened, and played with heart every single game. That’s not something you can coach… that’s just who he is.

As his coach, I saw the growth. As his dad, I saw the love for the game and for his teammates in his eyes everytime I looked at him.

The quiet confidence that comes from knowing you’ve earned it, that is not part of his game yet… so I’ll say it for him…

He belonged here this year… and he earned every second of it. When the season ended, even in that tough loss, I realized something: stats and scores don’t define a player — character does

by - 0 comments

Leaves are the Devil

I literally hate raking leaves… Like I literally would rather do about 25,000 things besides rake leaves.  I love everything about yard work, building stone walls… Mowing the lawn… Laying brick walkways… But I can not say that there is anything I enjoy less than raking leaves.

See that is what brings me here… Where I am today… With a son.  I had a son and I thought it would make life easier.  You know, have a son and make him do chores and pretty much do all the yard work and stuff.

Ummmm… Someone explain to me the logistics of the child labor laws… Because I’ve been out here three hours and Jax is sleeping still. 🍁🍁🍂🍁 

I’m pretty angry at this point. I hate leaves and I hate the fact that I have 476,976,087 leaves to pick up by myself.  I hate it so bad that I made a list of things I’d rather do than rake leaves…

1. Tell a kindergarten class that Santa put them on the naughty list.

2. Clean the gum under every desk in my school.

3. Count how many steps it takes to walk the Great Wall of China while someone skip counts next to me.

4. Read “50 Shades of Grey” to my grandma.

5. Sit front row at a Clay Aiken concert.

6. Throw away a perfectly good leftover pizza.

7. Watch “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and take a shot every time Kim takes a selfie.

8. Be a bathroom attendant at a bar downtown.

9. Swim in a pool before waiting 30 minutes after eating.

10. Tell a group of sorority girls that Starbuck’s no longer sells Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

11. Listen to an audio version of The Great Gatspy narrated by Fran Drescher.

12. Accept invitations to play Facebook games

13. Talk to a telemarketer

14. Sit in traffic for 13 hours after drinking

15. Walk barefoot over a pile of Legos.

… It’s too bad I actually had to actually clean up all these damn leaves.  Like pick everyone up by hand… By myself… DAMN IT!

…19 hours later and all he’s doing is playing around. #GetToWork #ThatLaughThough…

Insane amount of leaves out there today. Too many to count. Too many to even think about doing by myself… Then again I might as well just hire someone. You know also bc my son isn’t going to do much out here.

… Well I better get back to work… At least one of us is having fun out here…

  

 Jax and I when “we” started picking up leaves this morning

 

Jax and I when “we” finished picking up the leaves tonight

by - 2 Comments

A Dad’s First Steps (A Research Article)

These days people are trying to see what it’s like to be someone else… Put on a “disguise”, be an “undercover boss,” and you even hear about movie stars dressing up as their characters for upcoming roles… Well I think it’s time I did some research for this blog and for parents everywhere.  It’s time to “walk a mile in my son’s shoes.” (I mean that figuratively of course bc I wouldn’t be caught in those Stride Rite’s)

As Jax begins his journey walking I wanted to get a feel for the nervousness, excitement and determination it takes a 13 month old to continue getting up fall after fall. And that I did…

This is a classic example of a dad trying to be cool. “No, no really I got this… I don’t need any help.” Immediately followed by a fall to my death or worse torn suit pants. There’s no doubting the confidence that was gained from the first two or three successful steps on those stilts. I had confidence coming in waves… only to end in disaster.

How much would you have paid to be one of the lucky ones to see this clown fall?

Look, at some point you have to just realize walking just isn’t for you any more… especially when you are facedown on a cold role floor. There are only a finite number of high pressure steps one person can navigate through before succumbing to gravity… and I hit my quota pretty early on.

The look that says, “ohh crap Ijust killed my boss!”

At this point I felt like a horse who just needed to be taken out to pasture and put out of his misery… Please just drop a sheet over me and go on with your day.

Luckily this kid has a better sense of balance than his father as he learns to maneuver through the world using his new found mode of transportation.  Yes he may look like a drunken sailor and yes he may look like his knees don’t work when he walks… But at least he’s better at it than his dad… And at least now his dad knows the pain of learning to walk again.

A split for the ages… Glad that hurdling flexibility is still coming in handy.