Scott's Baseball (and other stuff) Blog

April 21, 2011 -- ARCHIVES -- Send me a comment!

    I always love to see fathers and sons at the ball game. It's a great tradition. Whenever I see a dad teaching his young son how to keep score (yes, people still do that!) or patiently explaining the Infield Fly Rule or another of the games many idiosyncrasies, it gives me a good feeling to know that at least a portion of the next generation is growing up with more than computers and video games to keep them occupied.

    It's particularly heartwarming to watch the bonding going on. It's a genuine moment of shared joy that is truly -- hope I don't sound too much like a commercial -- priceless. My own Dad took me to some games when I was a kid, but he wasn't really a baseball guy. He didn't have the temperament for such a deliberate game. But I was lucky enough to get to tag along now and then during the years he had season tickets for the Blackhawks at the old Chicago Stadium. Hockey was more Dad's speed. I didn't understand the subtleties of the game back then, but I knew it was exciting, and I loved being there with Dad and watching him get worked up like he did.

    In the last decade or so, I started sharing another one of Dad's passions, NASCAR racing. He took me to my first Cup race -- at Daytona, no less -- and even though I was nearly 40 years old, it was every bit as exciting to me as those Blackhawks games all those years ago. We went to a few more races together, and once my two brothers and I joined him for the fall race in Charlotte. It was the first and only time the four of us all went to a race together, and it's one of my all-time favorite memories.

    Toward the end of last year's Baseball Trip, I got a phone call that forced me to cut the trip short by a day. Dad passed away shortly thereafter. Even though I only saw him a few times a year since he retired, I miss him every day.

    Fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters, treasure the time you have together. Get out and enjoy the things you love together, whether it's baseball, or hockey, or racing, or ballet. You'll be glad you did.