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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
OT: Musings about Musial, my father, and myself...
OT: Musings about Musial, my father, and myself...
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HawkeyeKane
1405 posts
Jan 21, 2013
10:02 AM
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I mentioned in my brief RIP post for Stan the Man two days ago that Stan was one of my father's heroes.
Just another little story about my father and his unswerving devotion as a St. Louis Cardinals fan....
If anyone happens to have the book entitled "Busch Stadium Moments", which was a tribute piece put out by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to honor the original Busch Stadium, you'll find in the segment about Jack Buck's public visitation at the park, a picture of a man weeping in front of Buck's casket with his hat removed in respect. That man is my father.
When Jack Buck died in 2002, I was away doing missionary work on the Indian reservations of northern Minnesota. I happened to walk by a Post-Dispatch newspaper machine in Park Rapids. I did a double take when I looked at the front page picture, and saw my father crying on the cover.
Today is my dad's 54th birthday. I spoke with him about an hour ago to wish him many happy returns, and to offer my condolences at the loss of another of his longtime heroes. He said this birthday is somewhat bittersweet, and he is considering attending the public visitation for Musial this coming Thursday in St. Louis.
You should know that my father and I are very similar, and yet simultaneously, polar opposites when it comes to our respective passions. Pop has made his living as a sports journalist for the past 35 years, and lives and breathes all forms of athletics. It runs in his family. My grandfather was a hell of a baseball player in his youth. Played in the minors for a couple years before enlisting in the USAAC, and was called by Springfield's sole native Hall-of-Famer Robin Roberts, "one of the best hitters I ever saw play at Lanphier (Park)".
I, on the other hand, have never taken to sports the way my father and grandfather did. I admit that when I was in grade school, I tried my hand at Little League, flag football, basketball, and track. It was more out of attempt to fit in with the rest of my classmates since I was raised in a rural community that cared little for anything outside of sports or agriculture. But I never had the physique, or the drive to be an athlete. I enjoyed WATCHING a baseball or football game as much as the next American boy, things I still love doing to this day. But playing sports is something I don't have much regret giving up. Science and the arts were what hit home for me. Music, cinema, theater, electronics, craftsmanship...those were what called to me.
Often at times over the years, I've wondered to myself if this was something my father held as a disappointment, in that I didn't share his passion for sports. There was never any real drama between my father and me. We always got along without fighting. In fact to this day, I'd say I still consider my father to be my best and truest friend. But there are times when it feels like Pop and I have very little common ground to carry a conversation upon, and it's at those times when I feel the sharp desire to share with him a glimpse of the things I feel passionate about in the hopes he might understand them better.
I close this little diatribe with an element of reflection upon myself. I'm 27 years old; I have a wife, and a son of 2 and half. I look at my son every day, wondering to myself what passions he will have when he gets older. Will I feel a sense of misunderstanding if he decides to play professional soccer? Will I sit in bemusement at FFA meetings because he wants to raise sheep? Will I go to his house on Thanksgiving for the dinner he's prepared with his skills as a master chef? It's said that you become your parents somewhere along the lines of time, and I wonder if that difference between my father and I will be as prevalent between me and my son.
I know that regardless of what my son decides to do with his life and how he follows his passions, I will always love and support him. It's just my hope that when that time comes, I find it within myself to learn everything I can about his passions, so that I never have an awkward silence with him.
Last Edited by on Jan 21, 2013 10:06 AM
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LittleBubba
275 posts
Jan 21, 2013
10:36 AM
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quite a post Hawkeye. I think mebbe some of yer dad's writing skills rubbed off on ya'.
Too bad you're so young. You mighta loved the days when Musial, Aaron, Mays, Koufax,Clemente, and summa the others were around baseball. Those were good enough players to get your mind offa the race problems in the country at the time.
I had the opposite problems with my kids: I loved sports and they were into video games. that was a big challenge for me.
Even though my dad wasn't "hands on" with me, he left me with some solid examples, which I appreciate to this day.
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HawkeyeKane
1406 posts
Jan 22, 2013
10:34 AM
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@LittleBubba
Good to see I'm not the only example of the difference of interests between father and child on here. :-) Yeah, I've often said that I was truly born in the wrong decade. My tastes harken back to the mid-20th century in a lot of respects. Music, cars, fashion, film, television...you name a field and I'd probably tell you I wish that things regarding that field were the way they used to be.
Times when major league players were more concerned with keeping the respect and admiration of their young fans than with contracts and multi-million dollar salaries. Times when you took your SS Nova or big-block Dodge for a cruise down the strip with a little light-to-light racing, rather than avoiding the rush hour traffic and making good gas mileage with your little import hybrid.
I won't say that I haven't had fascinations with things that are typical of my generation though. I do like playing video games on occaision, and keeping up with the current popular music scene. But as my wife likes to say, she married a 60-something year old man trapped in a 20-something's body.
My father has ingrained me with solid examples as well. My work ethic for one. My ability to put myself in someone else's place when trying to comprehend their actions or misfortunes is another. Like every other human that inhabits the face of this planet, my father has his faults and his qualities. But he is a good man, and I'm very proud to call myself his son.
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Hawkeye Kane
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nacoran
6416 posts
Jan 22, 2013
12:56 PM
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I love my dad, but he's only ever once thought of a joke in his life, and he tells it any time anyone starts telling jokes. (His first car was a Saab story. badumpum). He was a physics teacher. I took physics 3 times. I passed the Regents exam (barely) the first time, but on account of not handing in enough homework
I didn't pass the class. The second and third time I dropped out. I love physics but I hate math (unless, oddly, it has to do with baseball statistics). He's in his 70's, but he still hikes up a mountain a couple times a week. I've been trying to get back in shape myself. When I was out to visit him this summer it was the first time I was able to keep up with him in years- of course, he was going a little slower than usual so we didn't lose my aunt!
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Nate
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LittleBubba
277 posts
Jan 22, 2013
1:16 PM
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At least my dad got me started on "mouth organ" when I was about 11. He was a helluva lot better trumpet player than me though...WAYYYY better. I don't think he figured that harp would become my main instrument.
He only played straight chromatic though. I had to figure out the rest myself.
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