My Sports Passion, My Sports Profession. Thanks, Dad

This week I attended World Series Games Three and Four in Philadelphia. Those that know me would not be surprised as I am a life-long devoted Phillies fan. This weekend my champion sports enjoyment continues with the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland.

I will relish both events with family and friends.

This has been a favorite time of the year of late as these two great events have overlapped.

My enthusiasm for this week got me thinking. I love sports. I always have. I love rooting in person, watching on TV, playing, reading about, discussing, and coaching sports. They have all delivered special moments in my life.

So this is the right time to say THANK YOU, Dad.

Raised in the Philly suburbs I thought everyone was a sports fan, but that's Philly. I was six when we moved out of the city to a house directly across the street from the school fields. I never missed a pick-up game in any season. Early backyard catches with Dad, home run derby with friends, and Little League introduced baseball first.

Dad coached Little League. He was big on playing the right way, top effort combined with great sportsmanship and integrity. I coached Little League for my sons Josh and Brad and tried to emulate the same teaching. I still enjoy hanging with their friends who were on our team more than 20 years ago. I was eight when Dad and Grandpop Jack took me to Connie Mack Stadium to see Sandy Koufax pitch against the Phills. One of the only times I rooted against my beloved Phills was his no hitter.

Dad and I had Eagles season tickets for years where we came to know everyone in our row. The cardiologist who diagnosed my acute endocarditis at 41, I had met on our row 25 years prior. The 1960 Eagles-Packers game at Franklin Field was my first championship attended. (It took a while for the Eagles to win another!)

My Dad and grandfather played golf. I was allowed to come along and later even caddy. Now golf is my passion, and I love playing with my sons.

I wasn't a top player in school sports. I played 100lb football, soccer, and lacrosse, but Dad was always rooting me on, and always encouraged me to make up for lack of skills with superior effort. I continued those lessons in much of my life. In fact, grit is held in the highest esteem in Philly (think Rocky), of which I am proud.

Rooting was not always easy. The collapse of the 1964 Phillies is often used to define other epic sports collapses. That is part of our psyche that we have to carry around. That's also part of being a Philly sports fan. The Phillies have the dubious distinction of being the sports team with the most losses of any American pro team, period.

Win or lose, I loved reading the papers the day after. Stan Hochman's column in the Daily News was always discussed at school our lunch table. Yes this was pre SportsCenter! We liked reading about sports. I still do. Maybe the germination of TDN was birthed then.

My Dad loved basketball the most. He played in a regular Friday night pick-up game at the Philadelphia Athletic Cub when I was young. It was always special to get to go watch, then take a steam and have a sandwich with the men. He owned a stationery company and a great friend and business associate was paper executive Irv Kosloff, who was a partner in the 76ers.

In their championship season, while I was in high school, we had season tickets courtside and went to many away games too, sometimes flying with the team. There were even a few games of gin with Wilt. The definition of true sports excellence was cemented for me by the 1966-67 NBA champion 76ers, whose win percentage was the NBA record till broken by the Bulls.

As I grew up, my sports enjoyment was shared with my like-minded friends. There were countess road trips to enjoy rooting for our Philly teams.

In college I was introduced to Thoroughbred racing. It was love at first sight. A hot-walking job led to a summer job grooming at Saratoga. I told my parents I wanted to take a year off and learn about my new passion. Although the racetrack was foreign to Dad, he was totally supportive of Al Goldberg and me. Dad and his friends bought us some horses to train. Dad came to enjoy and follow the big races. After retiring he and Mom came to help me manage Matchmaker.

When Al and I went out on our own in the mid 70s we named our stable Flying Eagle Stable and my racing silks are orange and green. No explanation needed. Al and my professional Thoroughbred life was also supported by our friends and family.

At Safely Kept's induction ceremony into the Racing Hall Of Fame in Saratoga, my college poker game all came, 40 years after college.

I have passed the love of sports family tradition on to my kids. I have enjoyed watching them compete, coaching, and playing sports with them. Yes we talk about the games, the people, the big plays. We send around stories and tweets we enjoy. There have been countess regular season and playoff games. It wasn't easy raising Philly sports fans in the New York area, but I was successful. There have been so many memorable moments.    And now Brad has brought me to the point in my world where “are you Brad's Dad?” has been asked too many times.

Juliette also enjoys her field hockey, tennis, going to pro events, watching and rooting with me (Eagles Super Bowl was special ), and going racing with her brothers.

I have been able to turn a sports passion into a sport profession that has lasted me a life time. I have made friends and enjoyed Thoroughbred racing, all over the globe. I have experienced the thrills of championship sports, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, but never forgetting Dad's lessons of sportsmanship and integrity.

I'm so thankful to say THANKS Dad. You did a great job of introducing, nurturing, supporting, and sharing your sports passion connecting the generations. I hope I would make you proud doing the same for Josh, Brad, and Juliette. Now go Phillies and fly Flightline!