A Mom Who Loves Sports

Today I would like to introduce you to my mother, Dorothy aka Dots and Dash with Lots of Flash, the woman who supported me in every way throughout my entire life. She encouraged me to pursue my art – even when I decided to pass on art school as an undergrad so I could apply to the liberal arts college at her alma mater, the University of Michigan, and major in math (a subject that still makes her shake when she hears it, even now, long after her school career ended.)

Mom still supports my art, only now we’ve reached a new phase where she buys sweets for me to paint (or so she says), which I encourage on special occasions such as this.

Unlike most women of her generation, my mother loves sports! She says, “I love my Tigers, I love my Pistons, and I LOVE (drawn out like looovve) my Lions!”.

When I mentioned that her University of Michigan Wolverines were noticeably absent from this illustrious list of Michigan sports teams, she answered, “I am a poor sport. I hate them when they lose.”  Spoken like a fan who attended a lot of games on campus during the “Fritz” Crisler era (the head football coach with a basketball arena named after him), culminating in the national football championship in 1947 during her senior year.  You should hear my mother when Michigan plays Ohio State on Thanksgiving weekend… or when UM makes it to the Rose Bowl… Mom still calls to remind me that Michigan is playing, especially now that it’s basketball season  – which I love! I think I grew up singing the Michigan fight song. I am hearing “Hail to the Victors” in my head right now. Go Blue!

Now Mom even follows Missouri sports since my husband grew up in St. Louis. Jay reports she’s always up on the news on his favorite Mizzou teams. Mom says Jay is still talking about the 1968 World Series Game 7 when Mickey Lolich, the infamous Detroit Tiger far out-pitched Bob Gibson from the less fortunately St. Louis Cardinals, who lost the series as a result. Mom also keeps tabs on the University of Illinois teams now that Laura goes to school there (not that Laura does…).

Often people ask me if Mom is an artist. While she isn’t, her sister, my aunt Ruth, is a talented watercolorist who lives in Columbus, Ohio (home of the Ohio State Buckeyes, of all places). Actually, I take that back. Mom is an untraditional artist if you define artist as a person who has an exceptional skill in a particular area. You could call her an “artist of current events”. Mom thrives on listening to the radio – I think of her as a radio junkie. She picks up so much information about everything and anything, including sports and the arts, and keeps me posted on what’s happening in Detroit – and, surprisingly, New York. Once she actually called to tell me a bus overturned on the NY State Thruway! You can always count on Mom for a lively discussion about current movies and TV shows, even when she has never seen them.

And did I mention that she’s a Mitch Albom fan? Mitch is a long time Detroit sportwriter and author of acclaimed books such as Tuesdays with Morrie. Mom recently got a new convert in my eldest daughter Laura, who now regularly listens to his radio broadcasts on Detroit’s WJR. Laura says he’s really funny.

Upon reflection, I think Mom earned my 2013 Sports Artist Award when she proved her sports prowess to the outside world by winning our accountant’s March Madness basketball pool – and took home $1,600! Her lead was so convincing that she claimed the prize before the final game was played. Amazing, isn’t it? All those macho men in the pool (with 180 entries!) were left behind in the dust, scratching their heads.

Dot, we wish you luck in the 2015 March Madness pool, but you may not need it with your track record – as long as you don’t get sentimental about the Wolverines and the Big “Ten”!  From your greatest fans.