Father's Day may be a couple of weeks away but I thought I would write about the connection between fathers and sons. My father passed a few years back and with no children, Father's Day isn't something I think about too much.
Watching the excellent comedy show The Goldbergs I believe I have come to understand my father better. Like the lovable lug in the TV show, he wasn't outwardly affectionate, but he did it in less overt ways such as driving me to hockey at 6 a.m. every Saturday morning and, of course, making sure we were well provided for.
Though times have changed, fathers are there to show their sons what to do as they grow up: how to shave, how to drive, how to "be a man," more or less. These days you see a lot more single parents acting as both "mother and father," mixed marriages, blended families and the like. I have nothing but praise for all of the above that are able to raise wonderful children in these days of Internet, don't go outside, don't talk to strangers, don't spank your kids, over-medication, etc. I imagine it's quite a challenge.
The reason I thought of the whole fathers and sons angle was after watching Steph Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors cruise through the NBA playoffs. The "Splash Brothers" as they are known are the respective sons of former NBA players, Dell Curry and Michael Thompson. There must be some I would guess 30 or so sons of former players in the league. There is no doubt that genetics plays a part but also being around at practice perhaps or shooting in the driveway would all help.
Now we turn to hockey and the NHL. I played hockey for about 20 years and loved it. I still follow it. Pretty amazing to see an expansion team make the finals in their first year with the Vegas Golden Knights. Watching the NHL these days (or playing NHL18 on XBox) I see plenty of names that look familiar like Max Domi (son of brawler Tie Domi), Sam Reinhart (son of former Flames D-man Paul Reinhart) and Paul Stastny (son of Czech pioneer player Peter Stastny).
Another advantage that a professional parent can give is they can offer advice having been through the process before -- from signing with an agent, deciding where to play in those key development years, how to best prepare for the draft and so on. They are also likely to be more secure financially and be able to afford the costs of sending the kid to a private sports academy and to camps as needed to bolster their skills.
Of course, there are no guarantees. Some kids may see what their fathers have gone through and decided it's not for them. And that's OK. In the end -- you have to follow your own path.
– Lindsay is the Mountain View Gazette reporter
