Ballboy9092
Member
I was at Wrigley Field last week to catch the Cubbies beat the Phillies. As I was waiting to get into the country's finest baseball cathedral at the front gates, I caught a glimpse of silver hair streaking through the crowd, a head above everyone else, slicing through traffic like an oversized Penn guard in the '70s. I immediately knew that head belonged to Fran 'White Magic' McCaffery. In tow, his sons Connor and Patrick looked like they were ready to join their old man for a picturesque day at the ballpark. Connor looked healthy, recovered from his health woes of winter, and Patrick, moved gracefully as he surely knew the best way to maneuver through the crowd from his vantage, the tallest of them all. I could just close my eyes and see him with a basketball in his hand moving effortlessly around thousands of Spartan defenders on his way to the hoop.
I offered them a mighty, "Go Hawks" as I carried my own young son in my arms.
Fran, remembering what it was like, I'm sure, to carry Patrick and Connor in his arms looked me in the eyes and replied with a fist pump and reciprocating, "Go Hawks."
Those boys looked ready for a bounce back season. It may have been a small interaction consisting of two words repeated to one another, but I swear I saw them ready for the season to begin. Before I knew it they were lost to that sunny afternoon galloping onward toward better seats than mine.
I wouldn't want to overstate my impact, but I saw them, the McCafferys three, inspired by my burst of vocal support. It seemed to give them a surge of electricity, or confidence, or maybe something else, something magic, White Magic.
As we celebrate a bounce back season in less than a year, I invite you to join me back at this moment that may have started it all. Fran patrolling the sideline with newfound confidence, Connor dropping inspired treys, and Patrick enthusiastically waiting for his time.
Here's to fathers and sons and baseball, and by that I mean basketball.
I offered them a mighty, "Go Hawks" as I carried my own young son in my arms.
Fran, remembering what it was like, I'm sure, to carry Patrick and Connor in his arms looked me in the eyes and replied with a fist pump and reciprocating, "Go Hawks."
Those boys looked ready for a bounce back season. It may have been a small interaction consisting of two words repeated to one another, but I swear I saw them ready for the season to begin. Before I knew it they were lost to that sunny afternoon galloping onward toward better seats than mine.
I wouldn't want to overstate my impact, but I saw them, the McCafferys three, inspired by my burst of vocal support. It seemed to give them a surge of electricity, or confidence, or maybe something else, something magic, White Magic.
As we celebrate a bounce back season in less than a year, I invite you to join me back at this moment that may have started it all. Fran patrolling the sideline with newfound confidence, Connor dropping inspired treys, and Patrick enthusiastically waiting for his time.
Here's to fathers and sons and baseball, and by that I mean basketball.
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