While on this Father’s Day, we could have been watching the Rebels and Bulldogs face off in Omaha, or the Lakers and Bucks face off in the NBA Finals, or maybe even our children start city league baseball, COVID-19 had other plans.
But what we can focus on this Father’s Day is, “Your sports fan.” Who is the person you can talk to about sports? When the news breaks who is the first person you talk to about it. It could be your father, brother, son, best friend, etc.
My personal sports fan is my late father Cliff Sanders. If you ever had the pleasure of meeting my father, you would know he his an avid Ole Miss fan. As a fellow Ole miss fan, I would want to tell him about anything Ole Miss Sports even if it happened to be a sport I had no interest in. Although I probably drove him crazy constantly talking about anything sports related, it was a special bond we shared. You can share that special bond with your sports fan.
I remember going to many games with my father such as NBA games: seeing the Championship Warriors team play against the Memphis Grizzlies; the Sugar Bowl Ole miss team beat UT Martin 76-3; the Rebels play basketball in the pavilion many times; as well as going to a few Ole Miss baseball games, and also a St. Louis Cardinals game. Going to games might not be your special bond with your sports fan, but it is definitely something I remember.
Having a fellow sports fan is one of the best things to have in life as a sports fan. Now that I no longer have my father I’ve found my new sports fan, or sports fans, in my grandfathers Mitch Sanders and Rev. David Keen. There probably has not been one car ride where I have not talked their heads off about sports. These three men were the ones who most encouraged me to become a writer and I thank God for them.
This Father’s Day I will be sure to remember “My Sports Fans” and I encourage you to do the same. Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers and Sports fans of the world.
Cooper Sanders is a 15-year-old resident of Winston County and an aspiring sports journalist. His work has appeared in multiple weekly newspapers.
