Hey there sports fans!

Izzy is a natural. I don't get it. When I was a kid we were not allowed to participate in organized sport, Little League in particular. The hippy parents seemed to have a visceral distrust of anything involving a uniform, 'leadership', 'team spirit', and competition of a physical sort.

Seeing as how we were in the midst of the war in SE Asia I'm not all that surprised. The uniforms all had american flags on them...definitely a 'red flag' with my pink parents.

I wanted to play ball however. All my friends played. But I never got to. I remember lots of talk about how I was not built for sport. That was a bit of a downer...being told I couldn't do something before I'd had a chance to try...so I do my best to encourage Izzy. I don't need to do much. It's all just in him.

But where my son Izzy gets his obsessive interest in the game is a mystery. The profound skills he's shown us all baffle me even more. Everyone's son or daughter is, of course, the best on the field. Naturally. But Izzy has generated a buzz with the other, far more sports-minded, parents and coaches. They tell me he's got natural talent.

He's is good at this. Really good. He sure didn't get this from me or his mom.

Funny thing is he's seen maybe two live baseball games, and perhaps a total of 10 innings of TV baseball. Not near enough to have observed in any kind of real way. At the ballpark he's quite a bit more interested in the hotdogs and candy. He's 5.

So how on earth he's become the go-to playmaking kid causes constant wonder. My kid. Absolutely his own person. Cool.