Hope and Claws

It is nice to believe there is hope for any father, even the most snarling and evil.

So let us take from the story of how Henry, a New Zealand tuatara — a lizard-like animal with a family tree that may have roots in dinaosurs — came to be a father at 111. It turns out that once a tumor was removed, he became much more sociable, most evident in his having impregnated 80-year-old Mildred ... to the tune of 11 hatched eggs, so far.

And let us give to the ongoing sage of Damir Dokic, the tennis father-from-hell who took his daughter Jelena to a career high No. 4 ranking as a teen with a slash and burn strategy that almost destroyed her, before she was able to pull her life together enough to be the queen of this year's Australian Open ball.

Because, maybe, if Henry can get some good and enjoy the pitter patter of little tuatara paws, then, perhaps too, there's an operation for Damir that will help him pull it all together as well.