One Proud Dad

Sometimes just a conversation can make you proud.

Take the one that I had with my son the other night as I was putting him to bed. The lights were off and we were lying in his bed talking about baseball. Tae Kwon Do isn't the only sport we love.

And sport isn't the only thing we have in common, as our conversation will show.

I was describing Derek Jeter, and how he is such a great player and how he becomes an even better player in those high stakes games -- a player we call "clutch." Jonathan, who has formed an obsession with Babe Ruth, asked me if the Babe was that kind of player. I told him that he was and how he retired more World Series homers than anyone and also pitched all those scoreless World Series innings.

Then, I thought I would use Jonathan's favorite player as a lesson. I said how there are two players who have more home runs than Babe Ruth. One is Barry Bonds. I described to Jonathan how Barry Bonds took drugs to make him better and that was cheating.

"That's not fair. I don't like Barry Bonds."

Good boy.

Then I told the story of Hank Aaron. I wasn't sure how he'd take it -- a good man who had broken Jonathan's favorite player's record. I described how people treated Hank Aaron terribly because he was black and how many people didn't want a black man to break Babe Ruth's record. Some, I'd told him, even threatened him. But Hank Aaron kept playing and kept hitting home runs. And in April, 1974, when I was only three-and-a-half, he did it. He hit his 715th home run and became the new home run king.

Jonathan thought about it a minute. He asked me questions about why people would hate Hank Aaron because he was black. I told him that there are very stupid and very bad people out there who hate people simply because of the way they look.

Jonathan looked at me and said, "I think I like Hank Aaron best now."

* * * * *

This just in:

As the World Cup continues, I decided to check the average life expectancy of the countries in the tournament. The top five:

1: Japan
2: Switzerland
3: Sweden
4: Italy (tie)
France(tie)

They each have things in common. Starch (those "evil" complex carbs) play a major role in their cuisines. The Japanese have rice, the Swiss and Swedish have potatoes, and the Italians and French have their grains. Alcohol plays a role in all their cuisines, be it wine, beer, aquavit or sake. Four of the five are big seafood eaters (the landlocked Swiss being a lone exception).

Here in America, we're told that complex carbs are evil, that we should be loading up on protein and alcohol is not a staple to our meals. But we're fatter than they are. And we die faster than they do.

You do the math.

* * * * *

Is this not a great summer for sports? Think about it, baseball has parity not seen since the 1980's. We just had a great French Open and Wimbledon is right around the corner. We're in the midst of the World Cup, and all the usual suspects are gearing up for some heavy competition later on in June (see Brazil, Italy, Germany, England, Argentina, Spain and France). We may even get a Korean surprise, as we did in the baseball World Cup. And as soon as that ends, our eyes turn from Germany to France where, for the first time since 1998 someone not named Lance Armstrong will win the Tour. And when the excitement from the Champs-Elysees finally wears off, we go to Flushing Meadows for the U.S. Open.

A great summer.