The Greatest Gift of all Time...

[COOLAJ]

Yesterday was better than any Christmas as a kid that I can recall. Not only for my 4 year old son Aric, but for me as well. As most of you already know a lot of coaches made an impact on my son when he attended his first Miggle Convention in Columbus this year. He broke out of his shell and challenged quite a few coaches to some scrimmages. He had the time of life. He had so much fun that while we were on the 6th floor visiting Dewayne Jennings, he snuck away from me, caught the elevator by himself and joined the rest of the coaches in the convention room!! It was a scary moment for me but that’s how bad he wanted to play.
Columbus(out of town league members too) has some of the greatest coaches in not only competition but friendship and fellowship. Just before I left Columbus to move to Illinois a few coaches got together and gave me a gift that I thought there was no way it could be topped. Well I was wrong. When Frank Jacobs heard about my sons enthusiasm he immediately called me and let me know he had a few things to send to my son that he just doesn’t use anymore and he thought this was the perfect situation to get it in the right hands. I was excited about the package coming and let my son know he was about to get some more teams to add to his collection.
When I got home last night there was a HUGE box sitting on my porch. Thank God we live in a nice neighborhood…LOL. My sons eyes got big and so did mine…We both were like wow and couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. We get in the house and the boy is practically attacking me because I am moving too slow. I finally get the box open and it was like opening the Holy Grail of Electric Football. This bright light shot out and we were nearly blinded by all of the items that were in the box. Frank let me know what was coming but it had such a bigger impact when we opened the box. It was his childhood collection of teams that he had painted up or bought to play in leagues or solitaire. He then threw in about 80 or so bases tweaked by some of the best coaches in the league. Jim Davis, K-Lo, Norbert, Pratt and others. There was even a timer(that my son ran over and over and over..LOL) and some cases with foam to place players.
It was just amazing. In total 31 teams!!! We broke out my Steelers board, courtesy of Frank and based up Dallas and the Packers. The bases are sweet!!!! We played the first pre-season game of our Father-Son league. We Just play a kickoff and one drive for each team. The team with the most points or yards wins. Aric “Lil AJ” scored and stopped me after only gaining 51 yards. So yes he won!! He had all Jim Davis and Norbert bases!!!!
Frank, I cant thank you enough man. What you just did speaks volumes for your character and will mean a lot to my son down the line as he learns the true meaning of the gift of giving.
Already got my vote for Coach of the Year.
AJ

[HOOP]

Tears in my eyes as i read this, for real. I cant wait for my 3 year old son to be ready and excited to play like this. A father son league, cant get better then that.

Franny J Boy, you've done it again.
BTW Frank, i am on my second helping of B&B

AJ, enjoy it man. Thanks for this warm story of giving and receiving.

Scott

[COOLAJ]

Frank, Aric will kill me if I dont post this...LOL

"Thanks Frank! I love my men!"
-Aric

[Coach K-LO]

love playing a little with Lit AJ.........he joins the rank of the "next generation of Mini-Footballers"!!!!

Keep us posted on the actions and congratuations on returning to the "family"


k-lo

[NEW CASTLE HiTMEN]

In my job all I see is the bad in the world. There are days that I go home and think "What is this world coming to". Then I read stories like this and my faith is restored. To give up a childhood collection like that, Frank,

[Franny-j-boy]

You made my day as i read this post and just pictured how you both enjoyed your evening. Since i don't have any children, I knew I wanted my prized collection to go to someone who I knew had the passion and love for the game I grew up having. Not to mention I wanted someone to take care of it like I did as it was my one treasure I loved the most. I know I found that in lil Aric, and with A.J as a mentor, I know it is in great hands. When I was a kid my uncle gave me a bunch of old baseball cards in this big huge box. At the time i thought i would see players in the box like Johnny bench, Joe Morgan, and Pete Rose. However, when i looked through I did not even know who the heck any of them players were or anything. I did not want them so my older cousin took them off my hands real quick, as i did not know the value of them or was not told the value of them when my uncle gave them to me. To this day i regret giving them away as i probably gave away a fortune; but because my uncle never said anything ,I did not know any better. I told myself that if i ever gave anything away I would let that person know that it is valuable and to take ultimate care of it. I know now that I don't have to say a word after reading this A.J.. I want to thank you for being you. You are great for this hobby we love. You're a great friend, and an awesome dad.
Here are a few pics of Aric's teams i painted up many years ago. Not bad for using a needle to paint the helmets and stripes.

[Bluegnuoy]

Wow Now this is what MF is all about. Great Job goes out to all envolved!!!!!

[jeff]

this is what our hobby is all about !!

These are 2 class guys handing something down to the next generation

[mark robin]

dang this is great stuff. congrats to the young man for getting a great toy/tool/and heck of a first learning responsable usage....now have fun little man.

on another note, it was fabulous seeing painting like it was meant to be..... we did so many many teams like this in the 70's, only thing is, ours, or at least mine were not quite as good looking. ah, being a boy, what fun we had(stil do sometimes).

[COOLAJ]

I thought for sure that I had lost the passion to play the game of EFL/MF. I let some many things distract me and life just seemed to get in the way.

My son and Frank have reminded me its the little things in life that can make a difference.

Frank you have created a monster I tell you...a monster...Lil AJ asks me everyday to play and I admit sometimes Im just tired and really not in the mood...but the look on his face is priceless because i see how much it means to him.

Dearell you are so right man. I want to compete so bad now...for many years i just watched you guys play and I sort of sat back. But now I want to compete. I may not be able to travel as much as I want to or used to but I can see myself traveling with my son and enjoying things like I used to. Im getting back to the basics.

Frank...I told you Aric would kill me if I forgot to post his thank you...he asked me today...LOL

Well I was going to post a little more but Aric has asked to play a league game.
Once we get everything based up we will re-start my league from the 80's. The teams remind me of when I had my league then....this is truley nostalgic.

AJ