sports clip

jman has become obsessed with sports. right now the sport of choice is football. it started last year when vince young was running the offense for the texas longhorns. he really was fun to watch and able to amaze with his abilities and unwillingness to lose. winning the national championship by creating one of the greatest individual performances ever, in one of the greatest games ever; turned vince young into a hero for thousands of young boys around the state. jackson is no exception. he has carried his love of vince young into vy's career in the nfl. all he wanted for christmas this year was tennessee titans football gear. santa brought him a couple of jerseys, a helmet, a uniform, and a huge box of trading cards.

the card collecting comes courtesy of davin and dalen masur. davin is a couple of years older and has been collecting for a while. jackson and the boys are constantly comparing players, debating who is better - so and so , or so and so. this carries over to the parents as jackson will come home and say," r j said the cowboys are better than the titans." i'll have to give him my opinion as the only way to assuage him. today he asked me who my favorite players were when i was a boy his age. he asked me by sport, and here are my responses:

football: oj simpson and tony dorsett
basketball: pistol pete and dr. j
baseball: reggie jackson and mark fidrych
tennis: john mcenroe and bjorn borg
soccer: pele and did anyone else play?

those are the sports he could think of. obviously muhammad ali was my favorite fighter.

our talk today reminded me of the fact that i only remember having three posters of athletes on my walls in the pre-michael jordan era. here they are:





no one will ever be able to convince me of the opinion that sports are an unworthy pursuit for the socially conscious. it is the non-religious tie that binds together families and generations. well, at least in my family.