Tribute to My Grandpa

For the last three weeks, I have been at a lost of words and thought. When ever I searched my mind for ideas, they never came. May be it was writer’s block or brain burn out, but I wasn’t quite sure. Until now.

On August 29, 2009, I lost my grandpa. I know he is in a better place, watching over me and reading the article as I write it. I know he is smiling down on me, proud of what I have done. I am sure that I will continue to do so until the day I join him.

This article is not about him, it’s about the connection the two of us had to sports.

I can still remember watching the San Francisco 49ers on his big screen T.V. The volume muted so that people in the same room could talk. Watching Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Terry Kirby, and Brent Jones take the team to another winning season. The conversations about what the team should do to improve itself never too far away.

It was the Niners/Cowboy dynasty. Both teams fought each out year in and year out in the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl.

My grandpa helped me understand the strategy of the game through our many discussions. The different things that a team could change or needed to change to put them on the top. It was never his point of view verse mine, but rather a combining of theories.

His influence didn’t stop at football. We also talked about the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics, but not to the same extent as the Forty Niners.

He was the one person in my family that I could truly talk sports with and get a different opinion about my topic. My parents and sister didn’t share the same enthusiasm that him and I had.

He made me think about how the two sports are played. His points of view weren’t right or wrong, but different.

He made me dig, dissect both sports to look for a team’s weaknesses and strengths. His need to know what I thought a team should do to win forced me to pay attention to each game I watched.

He forced me to follow all the Bay Area teams. When I started losing interest in sports, he didn’t.

I look back now and see the bond we had together. It’s a bond that will never be broken as long as I continue to share my passion with people. He helped fuel my desire and passion for sports that I have today.

This has been the hardest article that I have ever written, but I needed to. I wanted to honor him in the best way I can. I can sense that I have.

Thank you.