Now, as a former athlete, I know a thing or two about talking about the glory days. Those moments in our life when we were younger, we played sports and we had everything under control. Our bodies were full of agility, adrenaline and testosterone. We were fearless, unstoppable, and best of all, we knew it. We realized that we could will things to happen, that nothing was impossible, that we would never get hurt, that nothing would happen to us. Of course, as you get older and more experienced in sports, the competition gets tougher and you realize that you can actually get hurt, in fact, seriously.
Not long ago I read a very interesting story that reminded me of this, the glory days. The name of the story is; “Two on Two” by Brain Doyle, who is also editor of Portland Magazine, University of Oregon in Portland. In fact, he talks about a father who remembers a time when he was a basketball star, reflects on his own glory days; playing basketball in the park, in high school and college, and eventually injuring and spraining his back. It’s like he wants to relive this vicariously through his own kids, even though they’re only one and two, so he plays with them in the driveway, with a little plastic basketball hoop no taller than 3 feet. Tall.
In this story, he notices that he is sitting about 8 feet from the basket, he bounces the ball a couple of times, and his kids try to grab it out of his hands. Then he puts it behind his back, and one of his sons pulls his hair, the other reaches up and pulls the ball, he finally gets to get away from them, and as he tries to shoot, they’re still on him. . As he reflects back, he also reflects forward, thinking that he wishes he had a father like that, one who would play with him as a child. He wonders if his children will also become sports stars like he did.
It’s quite a moving story for a father, for a father of very young children, wondering if he can become a great father, perhaps making up for his own father’s shortcomings. How often do you think this happens in real life? Probably more than it should be, and I think that’s what makes this story so memorable. It really puts us in another man’s shoes, from his perspective of going from athlete, to injured, to father. Please consider all this and think about it.