OFF TOPIC....but yet not...
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:44 pm
my parents divorced when i was one year old. their were very bitter feelings between them of course, which always put a heavy strain on my relationship with my dad, even as a young boy, my sister is who is 4 years older than me, was thourougly devastated , as she was daddy's girl.
he got married to a woman, who was resentful that he had children from a previous relationship and from then on made it very difficult to maintain a relationship with him, she hated our mother, etc yada yada...
when i could drive, as a teenager i started to make my own relationship with him,i had to, i needed to, wanted to know what this man was all about. he had always loved basketball. his very favorite thing in the world, it stayed with him from then on, his love of basketball, and especially being raised in southern california, the los angeles lakers. especially those cats.
as a rebellious young tween i decided i would hate basketball, because i wanted to hate him for all those reasons that kids from divorces do.
but then i decided at 18, that i would move in with him, this was 1994. and the worm , dennis rodman was coming on to the national scene, and mj would soon start his second three-peat. at the time for a kid who only cared about rock and roll, dennis rodman was the perfect bridge between counter-culture and professional sports.
i used that as a way to build a foundation, we used it as a way, to finally build our relationship into what it became, a great open and honest repoir that spilled into everything worth discussing,
but it always came back to the lakers, and the nba, and oh how great to pick his brain about hersey hawkins, or pistol pete, wilt, kareem(lew), west, the big o, the hated celtics, the fabulous forum..et al.
yesterday, july 19, 2009 i lost him at the age of 55, to a heart attack.
i dont have my laker buddy anymore. he wont grow old knowing my grandkids, or teach my son what he knew about basketball, or anything else.
guys, call yr parents if they are still around, hug yr kids. life is fickle and fleeting.
he got married to a woman, who was resentful that he had children from a previous relationship and from then on made it very difficult to maintain a relationship with him, she hated our mother, etc yada yada...
when i could drive, as a teenager i started to make my own relationship with him,i had to, i needed to, wanted to know what this man was all about. he had always loved basketball. his very favorite thing in the world, it stayed with him from then on, his love of basketball, and especially being raised in southern california, the los angeles lakers. especially those cats.
as a rebellious young tween i decided i would hate basketball, because i wanted to hate him for all those reasons that kids from divorces do.
but then i decided at 18, that i would move in with him, this was 1994. and the worm , dennis rodman was coming on to the national scene, and mj would soon start his second three-peat. at the time for a kid who only cared about rock and roll, dennis rodman was the perfect bridge between counter-culture and professional sports.
i used that as a way to build a foundation, we used it as a way, to finally build our relationship into what it became, a great open and honest repoir that spilled into everything worth discussing,
but it always came back to the lakers, and the nba, and oh how great to pick his brain about hersey hawkins, or pistol pete, wilt, kareem(lew), west, the big o, the hated celtics, the fabulous forum..et al.
yesterday, july 19, 2009 i lost him at the age of 55, to a heart attack.
i dont have my laker buddy anymore. he wont grow old knowing my grandkids, or teach my son what he knew about basketball, or anything else.
guys, call yr parents if they are still around, hug yr kids. life is fickle and fleeting.