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For nearly 30 years, I?ve been writing about amateur athletes, hundreds and hundreds, maybe a thousand of them.
All were so wonderfully unique in their own way, playing a game because of pride and passion ? untainted by big paydays and the things that bog down professional poster boys.
All the while, the four children who came into this world thanks to my wife Kelly-Anne ? Brent, Jarryd, Mitchell and Riley ? were growing up, making us proud (with some report-card exceptions). Not once, through district and provincial championships, through a national championship final appearance, through plenty of individual accolades, did I think about writing about my kids. As sports editor, I vetoed photos of them appearing in the newspaper. Others rightfully got the publicity.
But, going into Saturday?s Yates Cup in Hamilton, with the University of Guelph facing the Herculean task of trying to knock off the McMaster Marauders, I?m going to do something I?ve never done: Toot the horn for one of my offspring, Jarryd, a fifth-year linebacker with the Gryphons.
To be clear, a younger son, Mitchell, also plays university football so my loyalties are a bit clouded by Garnet and Grey, a uniform also worn by my brother-in-law Trevor, and the Wilfrid Laurier jersey I put on so long ago. My youngest, Riley, is finishing off high school at St. Patrick, enjoying the recruiting process as he decides where to play football next season.
It?s not like the Baines family is a football factory. We?re not the Mannings. But putting three kids into the CIS is something we?re excited about.
It has been a wonderful five years for Jarryd. He dressed in his first year and has been a starter the four years since. This season has been his best. During the regular season, he tied for the lead (not just in the OUA, but for the country) in forced fumbles with five, had three sacks, two interceptions and was 10th in the OUA in tackles with 38. At 5-foot-10, 195 pounds, as a SAM backer, he often crashes and bangs with players much bigger. He had choices where to go to school and where to play football. Guelph was the right choice at the time.
Time flies. Not so long ago, he was a numbskull 13-year-old who missed a whole baseball season after a shopping cart he was riding in crashed into a tree ? Jackass style. A year later, he was the long-haired kid with tears waterfalling down his eyes when the Gloucester A?s lost in the Canadian Little League championship game in B.C., one win away from going to the Little League Junior World Series in Taylor, Mich.
And now, here he is, grown up, no longer a Johnny Knoxville-wannabe. Twenty-three years old. Making his family proud. Playing for two of his grandparents who have both discovered in the past few months they have different forms of cancer. Playing because he loves the game. Playing because he is one with his teammates.
What coach Stu Lang and his Gryphon coaching staff have done is nothing short of phenomenal. This team won two games a year ago. But up and down the roster, the kids have shown incredible resilience, heart and unbridled passion for playing a game that will someday soon be in the rear-view mirror for them. Their one loss this season, which came before their current eight-game winning streak, was a spanking at the hands of the Marauders, who have put the boots to everyone who stands in the way. They are the defending Vanier Cup champs and are scary good. In their lineup is Ottawa?s Tyler Crapigna, an OUA first-team all-star and one of Canada?s top college kickers.
The Gryphons will be heavy underdogs when they step on the field. Nobody gives them much of a chance. But I get the feeling the Gryphons don?t really don?t give a damn what anybody else thinks.
They fell behind Queen?s by 22 points late in Saturday?s OUA semi-final, but scored 15 points in the final four minutes to tie it, then won in overtime. Such joy ... I can?t remember ever hugging as many people.
Through the eyes of my kid, I have come to believe ? in him, his coaches and teammates.
Each week, I tell Jarryd: Make an impact. Make a difference.
And on a big stage, Saturday in Hamilton, he?ll once again get that chance.
Win or lose, I?m proud of what my son has done the past five years.
Sure, I?m biased ... it?s my kid. The love of a parent overrides any shred of objectivity and journalistic integrity I might have ... I?m sure there are a lot of proud mamas and papas out there who know exactly what I?m talking about.
tim.baines@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: timcBaines?
Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/11/09/tim-baines-reflects-on-football-playing-family
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