Eagles Champions?

When my son (who is now 34) turned 6, I was looking forward to him playing T-ball. But, even at 6, he did not stutter when he told me he did not want to play baseball. So, I looked to my daughter (who is younger than her brother, but probably would not appreciate me saying by how much). But, when she turned 6, her sentiments toward baseball, at the very least, equaled those of her brother. And, neither of them ever did play baseball.

They both played soccer, John played basketball, and Angela ran track. Angela was really good at track, too, setting records at both her Jr. high and high school. But, before the end of high school, she just lost interest and quit running. Interestingly enough, her oldest son, who is 8 years old, played baseball this year. Hurray for Kyle!

My son and I watched football together when he was still at home. I never really played football as a kid, except for flag football in the 7th grade. My son really never played much football either, excpet for his sophomore year in high school. And, even then, I don't think he was really as interested in actually playing football as he was in being able to wear the uniform, impress the girls, and basically get to watch the game from the sidelines.

After he grew up, though, and had children of his own, John's interest in football really seemed to flourish. In fact, when his oldest son was less than two years old, John would say, "Down, set, hike," to which his son, Jake, would get down in a pretty good three-point stance and take off running down the hallway squealing as if he actually knew what he was doing.

During that time, John worked at the same hospital as the pediatrician who took care of Jake. One day John saw the doctor in the hallway and said to him, "Chuk, I am concerned that my son may be developmentally delayed." Chuk stopped abruptly and said, "John, whatever would make you think such a thing?" John told him, "Well, I keep giving him plays to run, and he keeps running the wrong plays!" Chuk gave John a well-deserved punch to the shoulder.

Now, Jake is 12 years old, and is playing his third year of youth football for the Oroville Eagles. John, who was assitant coach two years ago and head coach last year, is president of the Oroville Eagles organization, which is a part of the American Association of Youth Football and Cheerleading. In fact, John has gotten into football so much that the only way we could get him to come to Thanksgiving dinner this year was to throw the turkey onto the living room floor and yell "fumble!"

This year Jakes PeeWee team has already set two Oroville Eagle records by getting past the 1st and 2nd rounds of the playoffs. This coming Saturday they will be competing against the Foothill Wolfpack for the league championship. More about that later, either way.

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