Baseball My Dad's Legacy
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by Kat822
I wrote this a year ago when the tigers were in the playoffs, and I thought I would share..... So, as you all know, I come from a small family; just me and Drew and Mom and Dad. Being the oldest and female, I am sure my Dad began to wonder if he would have someone to share his love of baseball with. So when I was about 4 years old, and it was looking for the longest time that another child, let alone a male child would ever materialize, Dad decided to share his first love with me---Baseball.
Dad has been a lifetime Tigers fan and well his love for the game and his underachieving Detroit Tigers rubbed off on me at a young age.
I remember summers spent listening to WJR and Ernie Harwell giving the play by play. Annual trips to Tiger Stadium to our usual box seats, 1st base line. Man I miss Old Tiger Stadium. Getting to the game hella early to watch the players warm up, Dad always able to coax the players over to the side to shake hands and always offering words of encouragement to them.
God I remember having a wicked crush on Dave Rosema and Kirk Gibson, yeah I started young, blame that one on Dad.
But anyway, Dad and I are big Tiger fans always have been probably always will be. Watching and going to the games are a special bond my Dad and I share. It's funny sometimes I wonder if it is just a way for me to feel close to him. He turns into a completely different person when he watches a game with me. It's like he comes alive, and everyone once in awhile he'll throw me a bone and share something significant about his past or what he's thinking about at the moment. Almost as if his soul becomes free to share with me in the moment. But regardless of all that epiphany I still love the game and my Tigers.
The gang was over on Friday night to watch the game, Mom and Dad, Drew Ce Ce Myself. We couldn’t have asked for a better effort. Anyone who is following the playoffs knows it was a fucking awesome game.
Kenny Rogers showed what he was made of that night. Now Rogers has had his fair share of failures and he is the first to admit it. But Friday night he put all that behind him and pitched an awesome game and against the Mighty Yankees, a team he claims to have spent 2 miserable years working for.
While I was watching the game I was giving the play by play details online to a friend who was "not" watching the game, "Superstition" --don't ask me to explain, but even my ALL CAPS could not fully translate the performance I was witnessing by this 41 year old veteran.
Rogers was quoted as saying after the game " I wanted this game as much as any game I have ever wanted in my life", that my man Kenny was very evident. And not because of the fact of its significance in the outcome of this playoff series but because it was and opportunity to over come his fears, his failures and his mistakes.
That's what I felt like I was witnessing, a turning point in a man's life. Where he seized the moment to prove to himself, and the world that sheer determination can be the victor if even for one night.
So Kenny went up against the Mighty Yankees and well he kicked their asses and helped send them packing their bags for home, an ironically sweet victory for him in particular.
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