Rick Reilly on His Father

As many sports fans will know, Rick Reilly, a.k.a "America's Greatest Sportswriter," has made the jump from Sports Illustrated to ESPN.  He had a six month no compete clause with SI that is just now ending and he has his first column up at ESPN the mag.  It's a reminder of why nobody, but nobody is better than Rick.  It's the story of his relationship with his dad and offers a picture of grace, responsibility and redemption us religious types would find hard to beat.

Here's  one tangential snippet, and you'll need to read the rest of the article to see how it ties into his relationship with his dad.  But I thought this was a terrific illustration of personal responsibility.

Golf taught me the lessons my dad never did, including the best one: You play life where it lies. You hit it there. You play it from there. Nobody threw you a nasty curve or forgot to block the defensive end. I learned that my mistakes were mine alone, not my boss', not the cop's and, as much as I hated to admit it, not my dad's.

Read the rest.

Comments

[Dan Phillips]

Thank you. That's some good (and moving) writing.

[Farnicle]

JB: I think Rick lifted that from Bobby Jones who when he was stricken with a disease that robbed him of his ability to walk, let alone play golf, who told one of his friends that it was okay, you have to play it where it lies. And he admonished his friend, so the story goes, to never speak of it again.