Over the weekend I attended a memorial for a Great Uncle I never had the pleasure of knowing, though I have no doubt we would have gotten along marvelously.
Sports were a major part of his life.
The tables were monuments to a life full of family, friends and sports.
Sports memorabilia of all kinds decorated the tables: worn leather baseball mitts that look like something out of an old World Series cutup, tennis rackets to represent his time as a state champion netter and even hand-crafted baseball bats forged by one of his sons.
Bowling pins reminded everyone of his time as a record-holder at Robin Hood Lanes in Edmonds and no fewer than three people testified that, “the dude could bowl.”
He stayed connected to the game he loved even in his later years by umpiring youth baseball. One family member shared a tale about showing up to watch him umpire a game only to overhear a player from one of the teams state: “Oh no, we got this son of a bitch again!”
One of his several grandchildren recently finished a successful baseball career at Santa Clara University and is now playing professionally for an independent league team in Southern California.
No doubt he has a glowingly proud grandfather looking down on him.
That was what struck me as I sat in a room full of family members and family friends: anyone who contends sports are “just a game,” clearly isn’t seeing, or should I say feeling, the same thing as the rest of us.
Sports can build a bridge between the generations, giving us something to take from our elders and pass along when we have children of our own. They help teach lessons, like “if you’re going to go down, go down swinging”, which carry importance on the baseball diamond yes, but far beyond it as well. More than building character, they reveal it. They show us how to deal with failure. And how to avoid making an identical mistake in the future.
Sports tie a common thread, giving us something in common with people who outside the friendly confines of the stadium or arena, we may not be able to even stand the sight of.
But more than anything, as my late Great Uncle and those who gathered to celebrate him taught me yet again, sports can help us leave a legacy. While he was remembered as a father, husband, grandfather and friend, he was remembered as all of those things also in the context of sports.
And his life in sports will play a major part in ensuring he will never be forgotten.
I only hope when I go, my life in and around the games I love provides people with enough fond memories of the time I was here.
