If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting Ben you know that he is a true passionate Philadelphia sports fan. He has been since a very young age and it always surprises me how much he knows about sports and the team players.
I grew up in a household where my dad and brother loved the Philadelphia teams but it was not really on my radar. You would find me on any given day curled up with a good book.
One November, which happens to be National Diabetes Month, I was tasked with decorating the bulletin board at the hospital where I worked as a Diabetes Educator. I though football sounded like a good fit since it was fall and I drew a sketch of a football field where there were different symptoms of Diabetes on the yard line markers.
My follow educator Joan took one look at my picture and laughed so hard, that she had literal tears in her eyes. She was married to a high school football coach and was way ahead of me in football knowledge. I had inadvertently started midfield with a 100 yard line and the proceeded to work backwards to 90, 80, 70 etc. I think in my defense, I recalled hearing about 100 yard runs and that's what I thought they meant.
Fast forward 30 years and God blessed me with 3 beautiful sons and now I know more about sports that I ever thought possible. I even know what a Flea flicker is as well as the RPO acronym.
Ben has an incredible collection of sports clothing right down to socks, sheets and bathing suits that bear the logos of the Philadelphia teams. He has to be wearing the right clothing on any given day that one of our teams play and is often frantically looking in the clothes buckets in the attic if he is changing sports seasons.
He had the honor of being selected as sports fan of the week for KWY and you can read the wonderful article they produced on the link below.
I have been asked if Ben stresses during the game and the answer is a resounding "YES". We try to help him remember that it is "Just a game" and the outcome is not going to change his life but he takes every loss personally and every win to the next level of celebration.
He loves calling in to the sports radio talk stations and is always the one saying "Our team is going all the way this year"
Well Ben, May your words come true!!
Love you more,
Mom
