Football legacy

Today I've spent nearly all day helping Isaac (age 12) with his family research project for school. The assignment: to pick something about your family or the community and do a 3' x 4' posterboard presentation on it. In brainstorming with Isaac, he's chosen to present our family heritage of football.

Many of you may know that Joel has joked about marrying me for my football genes. The irony is that my dad has made the same joke as to why he married my mom :>) It was cute to hear Isaac interviewing my dad, my brother, and my husband about their experiences playing football (highlights, their positions, why they liked it). It was also special for me to get to sit down and share what I know and remember from the stories, like "Dad, don't I remember you being offered to play professional football but you were getting hurt too much?" To which dad (trying to be humble) mentioned that he was called the day before the draft and asked if he would be interested in playing for the Rams. He was also pursued by Green Bay. But, Dad was married to Mom and they had kids to consider. Mom had told me that Dad was getting so many concussions a season that the doc warned him that he may start getting brain damage . . . This is why he turned it down (and pursued baseball instead). Good thing too, because my dad is smart as a whip!! (I'm very proud!)

Anyhow, we found my Grandpa's name on the 49ers roster today and that was really cool! Check it out at: http://www.sf49ers.com/history/alltime_rostere-h.php My grandpa is Ray Evans. . . He'd lived a life full of highs and lows -- but one of the highs was his football career. Very cool! Isaac was impressed because he finally associated what "professional football" meant when he saw the logo for the 49ers :>)

Isaac also thought it was funny that everyone he interviewed said that one of the best parts about playing football was getting to hit people. . . What does this say about my family ;>) ?

So, we're signing the boys up for their first season of football next year (Pop Warner) and I hope that they enjoy it too. In the meantime, today was a headache filled with some frustrations as Isaac repeatedly got distracted while trying to finish this project (due tomorrow) and I'm battling the cold that Joel generously shared with me last week. . . but it was also a really cool day where we got to share some special time working together. Definitely worth it! :>)