From the earliest days I can remember she would encourage me in any endeavor that I pursued, whether it was sports related or not.  She was there with a gentle word of encouragement for not only me to hear, but for everyone to hear.  I don't know if she realized it, but when she (and in all fairness to my Dad, he did it too) yelled out, "Joey, you can do it!"  They weren't only reassuring me, they were telling the world, "I know my son can do this."  What a confidence booster for a kid who is not quite sure what he is doing.  She did it then and she still does it in little ways. Its effect has never changed.

 My mom taught me how to catch.  Yep, I admit it.  I was taught by a girl.  Now she couldn't give the in depth information that would come later from my dad, but she stood outside with me and taught me how to catch and a little about how to throw (no jokes about me throwing like a girl... it's just my own special style).  I don't remember much more than what she has told me, but it's not the memories I would enjoy anyway.  It's the thought that she would care enough to get out there and do it... for me.  I remember how she would take me to practices and games.  She made sure that my uniform was always clean and that I had my glove and hat.  She would sit in the stands and watch as these strange kids would belt around a leather ball with a metal bat for an hour or two and then take me home and feed me a wonderful supper and an occasional TV dinner.  My mom helped raise me on baseball by always being there when I needed, or wanted, anything.

 I'm not so sure she was thrilled about me playing football.  By the time I got into junior high, I didn't see her at the games that much.  She did take my friends and I to practice in the seventh grade and she did show up for all the games in fifth and seventh grade, but you could tell her heart wasn't in it. That's okay too.  Her caring was just as evident in her not showing up as it would have been if she did.  She still supported me, asked me how I did and made sure I had a clean uniforms.  She never said I couldn't play.   

The sport that my mom influenced me the most was... bowling. Yep, the manly sport of bowling.  Well at least it is if it comes with a pitcher of beer. At age nine, though, we weren't taken to belting back a few during our games.  My mother's side of the family has a legacy of bowling.  Her parents bowled for nearly fifty years and mom, whether she realizes it or not, is coming up on forty years.  I myself am a mere pup at 25 years.  With mom's side of the family we always had bowling.  Every Sunday at my Grandma's we would get up and go eat breakfast with their friends and head to Towson, Maryland for the all you can bowl for two hour, eight dollar special.  We would break into teams and play games against one another.  It was really a time to sit back and just be friends with your parents and grandparents and other adults. I learned enough to lead my league with a 150 average in eighth grade, but then other things started to attract my attention and bowling became, uh, much less important in my life.  I still don't do it as much as I would like.  It's gotten too expensive. For the price of three games I can go hit at the driving range for an hour or so.

That leads me to the last major influence mom had on my sporting life.  She was an integral part of this sport because she did, well... absolutely nothing.  My mom acquired some golf clubs when we lived on Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois.  It just so happened that our side yard was the middle of the 12^th fairway of the golf course on the Arsenal.  Mom wasn't using the clubs... so I did.  They were old and I mean old.  I didn't have a 3 wood, I had spoon.  Really.  That's what it was called. A couple of years later, I actually broke the head off the club while I was swinging.  It wasn't really that much of a testament to the power of my swing.  It was mostly a testament to the age of the clubs.  At the age of fifteen they got me new clubs for my birthday.  Those clubs would turn out to be very important in my growing up. Seven years later I had got myself in debt and I asked my parents for money.  I told them that I needed it from them or I would have to pawn the clubs they had given me.  I pawned the clubs.  Shortly thereafter I turned myself around and have been moving forward ever since.  I always look to that and my mother's refusal to bail me out again as a pivotal moment in my life.  I know I wouldn't be where I am now if that had not happened.

 My mom really has been "a mother for all seasons".  She has been with me through thick and thin, highs and lows, mountains and valleys, streaks and slumps, (insert your own, personal cliché here).  She has been the one to light the spark and help me reach just a little higher.  She has cleaned up the mess when I have failed reaching for those stars.  She has been a perfect compliment to my father - steady when he was providing the fireworks and a little explosive while he was the calming influence.

It's strange that you don't really appreciate your parents and how hard they worked until you're a parent yourself.  The daily stress I put my mother probably can't be explained fully, especially my last two years of high school when I wasn't the nicest son to ever come home late.  She stuck with me though and taught me lessons that I continue to learn to this day, although now they are mostly about how my wife is always right.  I guess they've got to stick together.

While a dad is usually the biggest teaching influence when it comes to sports, moms take a different, but just as important, role.  They become the biggest fan.  When you're a child, sometimes that's the most important thing of all.

Mom - thank you for all kisses on the bumps and bruises.  Thanks for all the times you told me, "No", as well as each and every "Yes".  Thanks for understanding me as I grew up and thank you for still being over-protective. 

Most importantly, thank you for cheering me on even as I continued to strike out and sticking with me until I learned how to hit the curveball out of the park. 

Happy Mothers Day.