The Roar of the Tiger

It's Saturday morning and thanks to overnight and early morning rain, the boys' baseball and soccer games this morning have been postponed.  I'm at Portland Brew having a cup of coffee while Jude sleeps in and the boys play in their iPads.

I read a Rick Reilly piece this morning from the Sports Illustrated Vault that got me thinking and reminiscing about my mom.  The piece was on Tiger Woods' first victory at the Masters, when he lapped the field and won by a record 12 strokes, 21 years ago today.

Here's a link to Reilly's piece -

https://www.si.com/vault/1997/04/21/225867/strokes-of-genius-overpowering-a-storied-course-and-a-stellar-field-tiger-woods-heralded-a-new-era-in-golf-with-an-awesome-12-shot-victory-in-the-masters

21 years ago.  It's crazy that it was that long ago, when I stop to think about it.  I was 31 years old and Mark and I had just started our law practice.  I was recently divorced from Jude and, if memory serves, hadn't started dating Jude yet.  J.P. and Joe, the North and South Poles of my life today, weren't even a thought in my mind.

And my mom was 58 years old, in her prime.

My mom loved Tiger Woods.  She didn't love golf - not really, other than for the sheer excitement and drama of a close finish in one of the majors - but she loved Tiger Woods.  I had completely forgotten about that until I checked my phone this morning and saw that he was 1 shot off the lead after 36 holes at the Masters.

Whenever Tiger was in contention at a tournament - and it seems like that was virtually every weekend in the late 90's and early to mid-2000's - she had the television on and watched golf on Saturdays, and especially Sundays, while she went about her business at home.  It's funny and I used to kid her about this, but she would have four, maybe five televisions in the house on, all tuned to golf, and she would keep up with how Tiger was doing as she went room to room.  She stayed busy, straightening up the house, paying bills, etc., but the television was always on.

Often times she would call me or I would call her multiple times if Tiger was playing in one of the final groups at a major on Sunday afternoon.  At that point, I think she stopped what she was doing and watched intently.  She absolutely adored Tiger Woods and reveled in every important victory of his career.  That, to me, was proof of his impact on the game of golf.  If Tiger Woods could my mom a golf fan, he had serious crossover appeal.

It's no secret and I've said it here often that I got my love so sports, for better or worse, from my mom.  One of the things I miss the most, and have missed the most, is talking sports with her.  Local sports, college sports, professional sports.  Really, any and all sports.  It was the currency of our conversations, a language we spoke to each other that, in some ways, only we understood completely.

I wish I could have talked to my mom about Rick Byrd's retirement as basketball coach at Belmont University.  I think she would have liked the Casey Alexander hire.

I wish I could have talked to my mom about Vanderbilt's decision to fire Bryce Drew and hire Jerry Steakhouse.  We would have had many conversations about that subject.  My mom would have hated - I mean, hated - the see Vanderbilt's basketball team go winless in the SEC this season.  That would have driven her crazy.

My mom would have loved Tennessee's run in the NCAA tournament.  Even though she wasn't a Tennessee basketball fan, not by any stretch, she should have liked Rick Barnes.  She would have loved Grant Williams, I think.  Admiral Schofield, I'm not so sure about.  She usually had one Tennessee basketball player she didn't like and it probably would have been the Admiral.  Still, she would have pulled for Tennessee in the NCAA tournament, in large part because she knew how excited I was about their success.

My mom would have had an opinion on Magic Johnson suddenly stepping down as the Lakers' President this week.  She would have wanted to know what I thought about Jeannie Buss's decision to fire Luke Walton.

As I recall, my mom was enthralled by Steph Curry's emergence as a star for Davidson in the NCAA tournament in 2008.  I think she would have been a big fan of the Golden State Warriors, too.

So many times, my mom would call me at then end of a work day for me, just to get my thoughts on something that had happened in the sports world.  It might be a local story or it might be a national story.  As I packed up my things at work or as I was on my way home, we discussed the sports story of the day.  It's just what we did.

Damn, what I wouldn't give for one more of those conversations with my mom.

I'm doing okay, I think, probably better than okay, under the circumstances.  Still, I'm finding that one of the times I really miss her is when there's a big sports story or event that is unfolding.  In those times, I'm reminded how special and unique of a woman and mother she was and of how she instilled in me a love of all sports.  A love that I've instilled in my boys, too.

Win the Masters for your dad this weekend, Tiger, and win it for my mom, too.