Big Mike Curran

Today I wanted to talk a bit about my Dad Mike Curran, it was his influence that led me to be such a sports fan. Some of my first memories as a kid was going to the old Busch Stadium in St.Louis, MO for opening day of St. Louis Cardinals baseball. Back then before the days of Stub Hub or Ticketmaster he had to stand in line in the middle of December to buy tickets at the ticket window at the stadium. He was also a season ticket holder to the Big Red, or the St.Louis Football Cardinals. I remember his tickets were in the bleachers in the top row, and my Grandma and Grandpa Curran had season tickets in the next section over. So for a few years before the Cardinals left St. Louis I would go down to the game with him to see the Cowboys, Redskins, and other great teams of the 80's. Those games taught me the game of football and that you need to be a fan of a team no matter how bad they are, because the St. Louis Cardinals were not that good back at that time. After the Cardinals left STL we continued to go to the STL Cardinals baseball games every summer. We always sat in my favorite section of the park the Bleachers, still to this day if I'm going to a baseball game I always want to sit in the Bleachers.

In the early nineties he started another tradition of going to the Indianapolis 500. This experience is like no other in the world. To see all of those people in the stands and the cars traveling at 200 mph it's quite an experience. Since 1993 I have been to every race except for the 2005 race. Thanks to Big Mike I can continue the tradition, keep the tickets in the family, and take my children to the race just like my Dad did.

Last year on November 28th 2008 my Dad passed away. It was a hard time for everyone in the family. At his service I delivered the eulogy and I felt honored to be able to do that. Even though it was a sad time for everyone I focused on the fact that he got to go to, the Indy 500 one more time in 2008, see the Cardinals win a World Series Championship in 2006, and got to see the Apple Cup Washington State v Washington one more time a week before he passed away. All of these events and teams were close to him and he loved to go to each of them whenever he could. Big Mike was a sports fan his whole life and now I know he is up there watching sports with hid Dad Norman Curran.

In closing I just wanted to thank Big Mike for teaching me about sports, taking me to live sporting events, and being the best Dad a son could ask for.