You almost had me tug, almost. But this one just put it too far over the top.....

I'm sure I could tell some stories about how cool my dad was and badass things he did but that doesn't capture why he was so awesome to me as well as a small, simple story.

When I was 10 years old I took a huge interest in auto racing but my dad absolutely hated it. Despite that, he got tickets to a Nascar race from his work and took me down to Atlanta motor speedway with all his co-workers. It was awful, way too loud, and I never wanted to go again. I can't believe how boring and horrible it must have been for him but I'm sure if I had wanted to go again he would have taken me every year.

The best part is I could tell about a hundred little anecdotes just like the one above - when I was growing up he did everything he could to make my life a happy one and because of his example I believe that when I have children of my own I will be able to be an awesome dad myself and that is by far the greatest gift anyone has ever given me.

i'd say the first part of my dad's life was awesome...

he was very understanding, for the most part...
but that all changed once i got married.

apparantly, my mom disapproved so vehemently of the
marriage that she made my dad's life even more of a
living hell than she had previously.

since my dad "had" to live with her, he sided with her,
and the rift remained pretty much in full for the rest of
his life.

he did coach my little league baseball team and spent
a lot of time teaching me the 'over-the-shoulder,
running-towards-the-fence' catch.

that was pretty cool.

he didn't divorce why?

divorces are damn expensive, ldo.

kidding, but that's usually a top reason.

quirkasaurus,

what reasons did your mom name for disapproving so much of your marriage?

Also, not sure if i agree with you blaming you mom for your father's position on it, but meh, obv you know the situation a million times better.

When I was 16 we went camping with the whole family (5 kids) and every kid was allowed to bring 1-2 friends. So there was about 6 of us teenagers walking around the campground and came across 4 13-14 year olds smoking weed. We started harrassing them and told them that our father was the Park Ranger and he was on his way so they should leave (we wanted the ampitheatre area which is where they were) they wouldn't leave so we went and got Dad.

Dad came thundering into the ampitheatre area, sniffed really loudly and boomed out "What do you kids think you're doing? Where's your parents? I'm going to report you"

I swear I think they all [censored] their pants. We all had a laugh and later invited them over to the campfire for s'mores and wine coolers.

T

took me to first baseball game

My mom made 40K a year when she divorced my dad, so I've never quite understood this. When there's a will there's a way.

I don't know why nobody believes this. He did it. I was fairly young and was horrified that it would come off of its jack, back into the garage door, and cause some unimaginable damage to the house or the neighbor's house across the street. He was self-employed so he would sit around all day like Jabba the [censored] Hut while he rolled it back.

He also had a Tourette's-ish habit that was funny but only borderline awesome: he would talk to himself in short sentences, usually repeating the same saying over and over. One of his favorites was "[name], [censored] 'em". I've picked up this exact same habit and when people aren't around sometimes just blurt it out without thinking. Not sure if that's learned or genetic.

He also used to spit at the mirror when he brushed his teeth. He didn't gargle, he just spit it out at the mirror. And didn't clean it up afterwards. Very strange. But now I'm filling this thread with things that are at best borderline awesome so I'll stop. I think I'd have more to say in a thread about how he was NOT awesome so if that ever comes around I'll post in it.

He used to play a lot of sports with me. We had a lot of good father son basketball and raquetball games, and even play fighting/wrestling when I was much younger.

Ray

I am pretty sure tuq intentionally made a list of Assani-like levelaments just for pure entertainment purposes.

Entertainment delivered.

No really funny stories, but my dad's lived a pretty cool life as a professional jazz musician for over 45 years. If someone's a pretty big name i nthe jazz business, there's a pretty good chance my old man's played with him at some point. He released two albums last year, and has been a Grammy voter forever, stuff like that.

He also had a Cubs minor league tryout in the 50s, but as a good hit no field shortstop...that didn't quite cut it, heh.

He'd also take us out of school to go to Orioles spring training in Miami, back in the 70s. Fun times.

When my older sister was an infant, my aunt got a divorce from her scumbag husband ("John") who had been hitting her. When John continued to harass my aunt, my father told him in no uncertain terms to cut it out.

John was a heavy drinker, and was heard drunkenly threatening the life of my older sister in the town bar that night. ("the_scalp's dad won't be feeling so high-and-mighty when something happens to that new girl of his in the middle of the night.")

Word of this got back to my father the next day, so at chore time, he made his way to John's farm, walked into his milk barn, and said "John, I'm gonna need to take your gun for a few months until you've cooled down so you don't do something you regret. John, being sober and probably intimidated (my father is a big, tough man) walked with my father to the house and gave him his shotgun.

When there were so many ways that the conflict could have been escalated, I am so proud my father took the path that left John some dignity, avoided fighting (or worse), and protected his family entirely.

A few months later at the start of deer season John called my father and asked "can I please have my gun back now?". He got it back . . .

/he's a Viet Nam vet who NEVER talks about what he went through there.

My father is 51 and has bet me $1000 that in 8 years when I am 30 he will be able to beat me in a running race where he gets to choose the distance.

One of his goals is to be able to snowboard with his grandkids when they learn to ski. We normally ski now, but we have snowboarded like 7 or 8 days.

My Dad has never hit me and although I am 6'5" 240, I he can be so intense that I would never want to fight him (he is 6'1" 180.

When my Dad has come by himself to see one of my football games he would come to our room and sit and watch football and have a beer with me and my roomates even when we were all underage.

Also worked his way through the Universtiy of Texas, was treasurer of his Fraternity and majored in possible the hardest major at the entire school (Chemical Engineering).

I am sure there are a ton more.