My son is a RHP at Iowa. During his freshmen year, we decided not to travel much because we figured he'd spend most of his time on the bench. So we skipped Florida and Hawaii, listened on the radio as he struck the side against Marshall (my dad's alma mater) in his first appearance. He'd call and tell us how people would stop him in the airport and ask for his autograph just because he was with the team. It all seemed a little weird and distant.
We finally decided to go to a series at Oklahoma State, which was then ranked No. 19. He went in in relief with two or three guys on base and it was sort of raining, sort of icing. I just remember for the first few minutes he seemed to really be struggling with the signs and was sort of looking around in a panicky "help me" way. Then the catcher came out and talked to him and he ended up allowing one hit and fanning five over three shutout innings and got his first career win.
I had always worried about him overreaching and going to a bigger baseball school than he was ready for. That was the first time I really thought, wow, he made the right choice. He has had ups and downs, but he's learned to compete against the best. That's a life lesson that can't be beat.