Thanks for reading The Dope.
If you ever had to be at the park early because it was your day to chalk the batter’s box
If you drove to the fifth shoe store because the first four didn’t have their size in the right color
If you worked a swim meet for seven hours in order to see your kid compete for a combined total of 1 minute and 14 seconds
If you formed a travel team specifically so you could hand-pick the players whose parents weren’t totally insane
If you ever had to roll down the windows on the drive home so you wouldn’t gag at the smell of the little brutes in your carpool
If you held someone while they cried after a middle-school loss
If you spent hours online trying to find a better price on the 7-iron that would fit a 10-year-old
If you wrapped an ankle and then worried for the next hour that you didn’t do it tight enough
If you ever served as photographer, videographer, statistician and/or team historian
If you cut up orange slices for an hour and began to tell yourself, Hey, I’m actually pretty damn good at this
If you bought a Cal Ripken instructional DVD and then bought the second one
If you rebounded 200 shots off the hard rim over at the park, where when they missed the ball would carom all the way to the grass
If you ever drove five hours round-trip for a two-hour game
If you texted your spouse/friend/partner and your first message was, How’d she do in the first half
If you bought the tickets you couldn’t afford so they could see a real pro play at the highest level
If you learned to love a sport you hated because, you know
If you ever kept their numbers in your head even though it was an everybody-wins kind of league
If you ditched work because you found out nobody was manning the sno-cone stand at the field
If you wanted to say something to the umpire but didn’t
If you got in the car after the game and talked to your kid about everything except the game
If you ever had to walk around the park rather than sit while your kid pitched
If you replaced a car window because you parked too close that one time
If you knew the Subway menu by heart
If certain uniform numbers, for the rest of your life, will only mean one thing to you
If you still have the scorebooks
If you still call some folks in your town Coach
If you promised you’d get rid of all the old trophies and medals but lied
You are my kind of parent
Maybe you grew up with that parent
Maybe you were that parent
Maybe you are that parent
Happy Father’s Day
If you ever got an earful from a parent who complained his kid didn’t play as much as your kid 🙄
My dad was that parent. Thanks for that. Happy Father’s Day.