Father's Eyes　父亲的双眸

　　◎ Leow Wee Kang

　　Bob Richards, the former pole-vault champion, shares a moving story about a skinny young boywho loved football with all his heart.

　　Practice after practice, he eagerly gave everything he had. But being half the size of the otherboys, he got absolutely nowhere. At all the games, this hopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardlyever played. This teenager lived alone with his father, and the two of them had a very specialrelationship.

　　Even though the son was always on the bench, his father was always standing¹ with cheering. Henever missed a game. This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered highschool. But his father continued to encourage him but also made it very clear that he did not haveto play football if he didn’t want to. But the young man loved football and decided² to hang inthere. He was determined³ to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he’d get to play when hebecame a senior.

　　All through high school he never missed a practice nor a game but remained a bench-warmer allfour years. His faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement forhim.

　　When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a “walk-on”.

　　Everyone was sure he could never make the cut, but he did. The coach admitted that he kept himon the roster⁴ because he always puts his heart and soul to every practice, and at the same time,provided the other members with the spirit and hustle⁵ they badly needed.

　　The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone andcalled his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the collegegames. This persistent⁶ young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but henever got to play in a game.

　　It was the end of his last football season, and as he trotted⁷ onto the practice field shortly before thebig playoff game, the coach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegram and hebecame deathly silent.

　　Swallowing hard, he mumbled⁸ to the coach, “My father died this morning. Is it all right if I misspractice today?” The coach put his arm gently around his shoulder and said, “Take the rest of theweek off, son. And don’t even plan to come back to the game on Saturday.”

　　Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was tenpoints behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker⁹ room and put on hisfootball gear¹⁰. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were astounded¹¹ to see theirfaithful teammate back so soon. “Coach, please let me play. I’ve just got to play today.” said theyoung man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted the worst player inthis close playoff game.

　　But the young man persisted¹², and finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. “All right.”

　　he said. “You can go in.” Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could notbelieve their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before was doing everything right.

　　The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, he passed, blocked like a star.

　　His team began to triumph. The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, this kidintercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown. The fans broke loose. Histeammates hoisted¹³ him onto their shoulders. Such cheering you never heard.

　　He looked at the coach, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Well, you knew my dad died, but did youknow that my dad was blind?” The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, “Dad came toall my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I coulddo it!”

　　鲍勃·理查兹，前撑杆跳世界冠军队成员，一个极其瘦弱但非常热爱橄榄球的男孩，有一个非常感人的故事。

　　每次球队训练，他都全身心地投入。但由于他的身材不及其他孩子的一半，几乎没有上场的机会。所有比赛他都满怀希望地坐在板凳上，却从来没有上过场。这个十几岁的少年和父亲住在一起，他们俩之间有一种特殊的关系。

　　即使儿子总是坐在板凳上，他的父亲也总会在看台上为他欢呼。他从没错过一场比赛。当升入高中时，这个年轻人仍然是班里最小的。他的父亲一如既往地鼓励他，同时也对他说明，如果男孩不想再踢球，他不会强迫他。但这个男孩非常喜欢踢球，并决定坚持到底。

　　他决心每次训练都要尽全力，也许等成为老队员时，他就会有机会上场。

　　整个高中四年，他没有错过一堂训练课，也没错过一场比赛，但一直都是“冷板凳”球员。

　　他善良的父亲总是站在看台上，鼓励着他。

　　当这个年轻人升入大学时，他决定尝试加入足球队成为一名“替补队员”。所有的人都认为他做不到，但他做到了。教练同意把他留在比赛名单中，因为在每一次训练中，他总是全身心地投入，把全部心灵和灵魂都投入进去，这是其他球员很难做到的。

　　当听说他没有被球队裁掉的消息时他激动万分，飞奔到最近的电话亭把这个消息告诉了父亲。父亲和他一同分享着喜悦，并收到了整个赛季的所有门票。在大学四年，尽管从未上过场，但这个坚持不懈的年轻运动员没有错过一次训练。

　　在赛季末，最后一场季后赛前的训练课，当他急匆匆跑进训练场准备参加训练时，教练给了他一张电报。这个年轻人读着电报，陷入了死一般的沉默。

　　忍受着巨大的悲痛，他咕噜着对教练说：“今天早晨我父亲去世了。今天我可以不参加训练吗？”教练轻抚他的肩膀，说：“孩子，接下来的一周你都可以不用来了。甚至可以不用回来参加周六的比赛。”

　　周六到了，比赛进展得非常不顺。在第三节，当球队落后10分时，一个安静的年轻人悄悄溜进空荡荡的更衣室里，换上了比赛装备。当他回到场边时，教练和球员都为这个忠实的同伴这么快回来而惊讶万分。“教练，让我上场吧，今天我一切都准备好了。”年轻人说。

　　教练假装没听见，因为他没有任何理由让这个最差的球员参加赛季的收官之战。

 

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