Not Just Catch

While a father and son playing catch is Hollywood and Madison Ave. advertising shorthand forbonding, it is more often the spectating that binds both boys and girls to their dads.

Two examples recently in the news.

"I haven't quit my job to go travel with my kid," says former Expo pitcher Bill Gullickson. "I'm still going to eat whether my daughter [tennis pro Carly] wins or not. ... I just sit and watch, and whatever happens, happens."

“I didn’t hate my father," says Sir Elton John. "I was afraid of him because he was a very strict disciplinarian and he didn’t approve of me doing what I did at all [marrying a man, among other things].”

“I made my peace with my father in the end,” says the pop star in the Daily Express. “We were still awkward with each other. That awkwardness never goes. But he was very proud of me in the end and I was chairman of Watford so when I went up to Liverpool and watched Liverpool and Watford or Everton and Watford, he used to come.”

** With the child in charge, the sporting life is always a bonding experience. With the father in charge, things can go either way. **