My guest on this episode is John Miller.
He has been a football coach for roughly 40 years at the youth, high school, and semi-professional levels. He is currently coaching high school football at West High school in Denver, CO
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I was like what I presume is a ton of American boys as I loved playing football in my youth. Ever since I was a boy Notre Dame Football has been something our family has bonded over. We've had other institutions attempt to be forced upon us, Nebraska and Colorado football come to mind, but I could not see myself rooting for corn or Buffaloes.
The Irish have been a familial bond and it didn't hurt that Rudy was in my VHS tape as much as the Rocky movies and as much as any other Ninja Turtle or Power Rangers were. Football itself was pure joy for me, I went as a football player on Halloween as a choice of over Power Rangers, and I was obsessed with that show. Football was my first love.
Everyone remembers their first love fondly and mine was assuredly football.
My dad, John Miller, was a little league coach long before I was born, and as soon as I could scoot around on the sidelines for those games as well as at high school games. Those guys were giants and might as well have been professional football players in my opinion. I adored their attention. I even remember talking to high school boys and feeling like that made my whole world.
I got to talk to my dad about Notre Dame Football and what it was like for him to grow up playing football in the 1960s. The 1960s in my opinion were a pivotal age for America as a whole and for football as it was also the birth of the Super Bowl.
I think sports connect people in special ways that maybe other things in our society outside of music and art cannot. I believe it's pretty special to see how the game has changed and how much of it is so similar.
If you get a chance to talk to your parent about their childhood this would be a good chance to do so. I hope that you can find some fun with it. Having my Dad on my podcast and in the first episode is not something I would've considered roughly ten years ago but I am very thankful that he still had the time for me and that he is still able to share his knowledge.
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