Guys, thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. I dont have the words to thank you all enough. Today was the first day back at school for me in three weeks. It was hard, but good at the same time. I had kept in touch with the players, and went to their last couple of games and stayed in the dugout. I let my assistants do most of the coaching. The first game back on the field was also bitter sweet. Like many of you the baseball field has always been my sanctuary. It was always a place where the world just seemed right. I have been fortunate enough to have my passion, my hobby, and my work all rolled into one neat package. My son was always at my games unless he had one of his own to go to or a rodeo. He would warm up the left fielder between games or hit with the guys in the cage or take ground balls in pre-game. That first game back I half expected to see him sprint out of the dugout to return the foul balls that came back in to the umpire.
The community and team have been great. They had jerseys made up with his name on them. The fans have made up t-shirts with his number on the back, and the out pouring of love has been amazing. One of the neatest things the team did was after the first game after Cole's accident. After every game I would talk to the team either behind first or third base depending on which dugout we were in, and Cole would take off sprinting to beat us all there and would slide into the bag... so after the game all the players took turns sliding into the bag in honor of Cole.
One thing I want to say and I will quit rambling. On the night of visitation, and day of the funeral, literally thousands of people came by telling stories of Cole, and very few talked about how good of a player or cowboy he was (BTW, there were world champions and hall of famers there) they all talked about what kind of person he was. So please remember this is still just a game ( even in the big business of the MLB, the ump still says PLAY ball), and it is much more important the type of men these kids become that we have in our tutelage than how good of a ball player they become.
Thanks for listening and forgive all the fragments/run-ons... I did this from my phone.