"Maybe the Luckiest Parents Alive" Look Forward to Tiger Football Season, Which Opens Tomorrow

September 7, 2018

Since 2002, when her son Jack began playing sports, it's been a fact of life for Leslie Gibson McCarthy and her husband, Tom. The couple "packed the Explorer with camp chairs and bottled water, and began our first season on the sideline as super fan and cheerleader, watching 5- and 6-year-olds play soccer with abandon and joy -- and loving every minute of it," she writes in Missouri's Webster-Kirkwood Times.

McCarthy describes the years that followed as "growth measured in height and heart on a grassy field, sometimes winning and sometimes losing. The postgame ritual remained the same: If they won, nonstop chatter and a breakdown of every play on the ride home; if they lost, a sweaty hug and an 'I don't walk to talk about it.' The weekends turned into seasons that melted into years, all marked by fields on a map ... And just when we thought those days were over, they weren't. 'Jack's going where?' 'DePauw University, in Greencastle, Indiana,' Tom said. 'Division III football.' 'We get to drive there!'"

McCarthy notes, "Google Maps has pointed us to Indiana and other points east for three seasons now. Jack's a senior, so this is it. For one last autumn, we'll pack up the Escape with bleacher backs and coolers to watch our son play with abandon and joy. For two decades, our hearts have bled St. Justin Red, Jr. Billiken Blue and now Tiger Black and Old Gold. We may be the luckiest parents alive."

You'll find the complete piece at the newspaper's website.

Jack McCarthy is a senior defensive lineman for the Tigers.  He and his teammates will open the 2018 football season tomorrow when they host Iowa's Central College at Blackstock Stadium. Get the latest at the team's official online page.

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