Dads, ESPN, and Tim McGraw

Posted by: WB


Morning after morning, my routine seldom changed. Breakfast at the table while memorizing baseball stats and standings. All while watching my favorite TV show: Sportscenter. I can't realy begin to say how influential the show was to me. It was my conduit to sports and made reality the possibility of living a 24/7 sports life. Some would say, (including a prophet) that living an unbalanced life is not too healthy. Well, it's not. But as a kid what's the harm. It's great to have something you are passionate about, something you focus on, something that can define your character. As an adult, sports are still a major part of who I am. However, there is a part of me that is far more important. It's Julie, it's Reagan, it's Lincoln, it's little McKinley in the womb. It's a family. Any time I get frustrated or flustered by "life coming at me", I can think of how blessed I am to have an AMAZING family. Suddenly, it's all okay. You couldn't do anything to me to make miserable as long as I have them. Tomorrow is Father's Day and the only gift I need I already have.

Shifting gears back to sports, I have been reading a book about the story of how the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network came to be. The book is actually a collection of interviews completed by the author put into an order that tells the story. It's been fun learning about ESPN before I knew them and reliving some of my childhood sports memories. I wanted to share an excerpt about Tug McGraw (world series champion pitcher) that some might find interesting.

Loren Matthews: Tug McGraw was friend of mine from my Mets days, and I thought he would make a great broadcaster. We weren't doing major league baseball on ESPN yet, but we were doing college baseball, so I talked him into doing a game for us--Mississippi--the Ole Miss. He wasn't sure if he wanted to do it or not, and told me he didn't know anybody, so I said, "Look, I'll fly you in, we'll spend some time together, you'll do the game, and you'll see if you like it." So we're in Oxford, MS, and he says, "Well, we have to go to dinner early because my son's coming into town tonight, and I have to meet with him." Now, I knew Tug's family, so I said, "Oh, Mark's coming to Oxford?" And he said, "No, no, no. This isn't Mark. You don't know about this son 'cause I just found out about him not too long ago myself. It was a spring training fling years ago." He said he didn't even know he had fathered a child way back then, but the kid was college age now, and he wanted to become a country music singer. Now, I'm not sure I want to be involved in all this, so I tell him I don't think I should come along. "No, no," Tug said. "I want you to help me break the ice; I barely know this guy." So we go to the Holiday Inn in Oxford, and sure enough this beat-up old eight-cylinder jalopy comes chugging in, and a nice-looking young guy gets out. Tug introduces me to him. Then the kids says he wants Tug to listen to some of his music, so he puts a cassette of his into his old car. Afterward, I pulled Tug aside and said, "Look, Tug, I don't know anything about music, but I have to say, it sounds like this kid's got some talent." He said, "Yeah, he is pretty good, isn't he?" Long story short, obviously it was Tim McGraw, and he and Tug later became close, but I'll never forget being in that parking lot, listening to Tim McGraw play his cassettes from this old beat-up jalopy. I mean, who knew?

Who knew what Father's Day, ESPN, and Tim McGraw had in common?