#13 has always been my choice for QB number as well. But alas, no one ever asked me to play qb. In fact, 3rd string split end ... in 8th grade ... on a team that exclusively ran Coach East's wishbone offense ... was as far up the depth chart as I ever got. Incidentally, I wore #23 and weighed about what my 3rd grader weighs now. I did have a huge noggin though, and so the only helmet that would fit me had the biggest cage (facemask) they made. Picture a really skinny kid (I could've raised money for Feed the Hungry) with a helmet that fits your average professional nose tackle, and that was me. The neck got a little tired at times.
Don't feel bad for me. I was more interested in the cheerleaders than the football and I did OK in that department. Some girls go for big-headed, non-athletic, shoe-fettish types I suppose. What can I tell you, I gots some game. Married a former Cheerleading Captain and Homecoming Queen so I does ite.
Moving on. 2 years ago, my son is asked to play on the Wills Park Out of Park (OOP) baseball team. Nice, right?
Follow me here as I summarize ... He - good. Me as a kid - not so much.
He does have a giant head though so we bond over that. You know when they do that checkup at the doctor's office? "Height? 60th percentile. Weight? 60th percentile. Head circumference? 99th percentile." Can't make it up ... wouldn't want to.
So he makes the team and now we have a big decision. What number do you want? And in the interest of full disclosure, he had always worn #6 in the rec league. But #6 was taken. My favorite player was always Dale Murphy and Babe Ruth and so #3 would've also been nice. #3 was taken. These numbers were already reserved.
1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 18, 33, 44. Something close to that.
At our school, there was this freshman kid that my son just thought was "beast". As a FRESHman, he was already a standout baseball player for Coach Cantrell and the Providence Stars. He also wore #13. My boy decided #13 would be a pretty cool number to wear. And so he wore it as a first grader and a second grader and is now wearing it again as a third grader. Check it ...
Looks pretty good, huh? This was actually last summer. Here is another, from just last week. His buddies, J and Bradley in there with him. (He's not short, they're BIG)
Coach Jeff gets credit for the nice uniform choice.
And finally, here is the #13 inspiration. His name is Christian Stewart and he is a Junior now. This weekend, they will play for the State Championship. If they win, it will be the first in school history. Shoot they have already gone farther than any other Providence team in school history.
Tied 1-1, Providence Christian loaded the bases with two outs for junior Christin Stewart, who drove the first pitch he saw deep over the right-center field fence. It was Stewart’s 25th homer of the season, which extended his own Gwinnett County record.
It was one of the rare times that Stewart got a chance to swing the bat. He was walked intentionally five times in the doubleheader Monday and walked three more times Tuesday. Handed the rare opportunity to hit, Stewart took advantage.
I think we made a fine choice, don't you?
I'd like to end this not-so-little post with an open letter to my great friend Coach and his boys ...
From: A Dad
To: The Providence Boys
Go out there and do your very best. Run fast. Hit hard. Throw nasty junk and blazing fastballs. And Lord willing, you will be a Champion. But regardless of what happens this weekend, know this. That there's a group of us who never got to be where you are now. Maybe our team got unlucky. Maybe our team just didn't have it. Maybe we couldn't even MAKE the team. We can't tell our boys what it was like. But you can. You can play - and ACT - like a Champion. And have a tremendous story to tell. Do it for your God, for your school, for yourselves. And somewhere in there, remember us. The Dads who need YOU to tell that story that we can't tell to our sons.
Amen
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