Last year for while working for WRCB-TV, I wrote an “Open Letter to Football Moms Everywhere” for Mother’s Day, commemorating the special bond and sacrifices that make football moms so different and so great.

This year, I thought it was time I gave the football dads out there their due as well, because where would we have ever been as football players without dad or a father-like figure?

Dear Football Dads,

The bond between a father and son that plays football is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Men have always had a weird way of expressing their emotions with each other (or perhaps not even doing it at all). Football was, has, and will always be a way that we can do that, and will always be a special part of our relationship. I often think back to when I was still playing, and how that portion of my life will always resonate with me; you were a big part of that.

My Dad and I – 2010 Senior Night at Northwest Whitfield High School in Tunnel Hill, GA

Thank you for:

• Teaching me how to throw and catch a football
• Never saying no to playing catch in the yard
• All those years you coached me in rec league
• Teaching me to remember the snap count, and that if I didn’t, it resulted in push-ups
• Continuing to be a mentor, even when you weren’t coaching me anymore
• Showing up to two-a-days with cold drinks (those always came in handy)
• Literally never missing a game, no matter the day, time, or distance (I knew that I could always count on seeing you and mom in the bleachers)
• Staying out until dark catching my snaps (I was a long snapper)
• Allowing my coaches to do their jobs, and being supportive of their decisions
• Challenging me to be better, and making me tougher on and off the field
• Letting me know that it’s okay to lose, and that’s it okay to fail, but it’s how you respond to that that truly defines your real character
• Using this great game to instill lifelong lessons, that I will pass down to my own children some day
• And finally… teaching me how to be a man, and NEVER giving up on me our my dreams

Happy Father’s Day

Yours Truly,

Brooks Carter

A grateful son & former football player

Brooks is the Assistant Program Director and host of Zone Preps for ESPN 105.1 The Zone. You can follow him on Twitter @BrooksACarter