Beyond the Field: A Father's Lasting Legacy

A year after losing my mother, I discovered something that changed how I understood my entire childhood: a worn notebook filled with my father's handwriting, including a letter he wrote during my addiction treatment that was much gentler than the one I actually received.

My father, Joe Patrick, was a Marine who commuted four and a half hours each way to work, lived in hotels all week, and still found energy to serve as Pop Warner football Commissioner every Saturday morning. Our relationship was complicated—he was relentlessly hard on me, always expecting more. For years, I struggled to feel the love I now know was always there.

In this deeply personal episode, I share how discovering that notebook helped me finally understand what my parents sacrificed, why my father pushed me so hard, and how his example of investing in others' potential became the foundation for everything I do today.

This is a story about complicated love, deferred dreams, and the true meaning of legacy.

Semper Fi, Dad.