The Kid on the front page

[moonpie23]

is my boy....

thank you DBR for that nice nod... (and zoubs too)

you can also chek him out in this video

http://www.miracleleagueofthetriangl...deo/video.aspx


sam gets some good face time about a min in..

[bulldog44]

What an AWESOME kid you have. The Big Hurt dealt a big hit in that video. Thanks for sharing the link. The video is great, helped clean out the gunk in my eyes.

[fisheyes]

Thanks for sharing! If there was any doubt about what's important in life...
What a kid!

[Big Pappa]

Great story and great video. You have an awesome son!

[taiw93]

Thanks for sharing! Also, congrats to you and your son for making the front page of DBR!

[WillJ]

Beautiful kids, beautiful parents, and a beautiful event. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[NashvilleDevil]

That video made me soak my keyboard with a salty discharge. What an awesome event and the Big Hurt put a hurting on that ball. What an awesome son!

[Azdukefan]

Your son is a hero in my book. Jay Williams tweeted the other day; Unless you don't have a roof over your head, air in your lungs, or food on your table, there is no such thing as a problem....just an inconvenience. Your son's story puts life in perspective. Thanks again for sharing.

[LSanders]

That video was filled with heroes, young and old. Thanks so much for sharing. Sam's a lucky kid ... So are his parents!

[Indoor66]

Thanks for sharing. Each of those kids is a national champion.

[ndkjr70]

Awesome. Absolutely totally, undescribably awesome. God blessed you with one hell of a son.

[DukeGirl4ever]

Like others, the video brought tears to my eyes, and I don't think that would have happened a few years ago. I never wanted to have children but to my surprise, found out I was expecting a little more than 3 years ago. Now, my 2 year old daughter is the most important thing in my life (and already walks around telling everyone her favorite team is "GO DUKE"). Watching this video reinforced to me that children are such a blessing and make everything in this world more joyful.

You are so blessed to have Sam.

[cspan37421]

Thank you, that really gave me a much needed jolt of perspective.

Best wishes to you, and such a great story about Zoubs not forgetting him.

[blueprofessor]

Love is the answer for these parents and kids!

Best wishes --Blueprofessor

[moonpie23]

thank you to everyone who has PM'd me and left responses here...yes, sam is an amazing kid and i reflect on how blessed i am (as are the people who come in contact with him) to be his his father. I got misty reading all of your comments so i feel like i should tell more about him...

Even tho sam is 16, the severe dose of full body radiation he received for his bone marrow transplant really knocked his IQ back considerably, but he shows so much "life" insight, it's difficult to think he's not on a 16 yr olds mental level...

over the years, sam has used the duke BB program, football program, coach k and even the assistant coaches as lessons in a great many "sam-isms" in life.

Although there are many, i'll share a few choice ones with you...sometimes, the smallest thing he says turns out to reflect heavily on a situation.


On Greg Paulus:
Sam always identifies with the kid that is getting kicked and put down. He loved greg paulus, met him after games and corresponded with him via email. His email to Greg told greg how he knew how if felt to be on the bench but that everyone had a "part" and that he (sam) had learned from Greg and coach K to always be READY to come in the game and do your part.

"dad, greg is a pure dukie through and through!"



On Zoubek:
The first game of the season, sam said "dad, brian's foot is ok now and you watch...he's going to be the best duke player this year and he's going to lead us to the championship !"....when brian had his break-out game against maryland, sam said "i told you dad, he's been hurt. Now you're going to see what he can do" when they won the title, he simple said "i told you!"...

also, one time when we were waiting outside of the dressing room in cameron after a game, one of the staff saw him in his wheelchair and came over to ask sam if we were waiting for autographs...we said yes, and the guy said that he didn't think the team was coming out that night and asked sam for his program to get him some autographs. "who's do you want?" asked the aid. "brian zoubeck" said sam. "who else?" said the aid..."nobody, just brian zoubek" sam replied.


On Jon Scheyer:

"jon is a lot better player than people think he is...when all the other guys are trying to show off, jon is thinking about the game..."

also

"jon will take em to the hole!"


On Mason Plumlee: (we met mason at the game AFTER he hurt his hand and was in the "cast". Sam looked up from his wheelchair and said in awe, "man, he's really tall"....later, after we were heading back to the car, I repeated the fact that mason was really tall and sam said, "he's going to need more than tall. He'll have to learn not to be out of position"...

On Shane Battier: (he met shane, dunleavy, jason williams, and johnny dawkins in the cameron locker room once). Shane spent almost a half an hour with sam and got all the other players autographs for him.

"dad, you can't stop shane battier, but he can stop you!" and

"dad, shane battier uses math....you can't beat that!"

"dad, the rockets would be crap without shane"

On Nolan Smith:

"Nolan is going to be the best player for duke NEXT year!"

On kyle singler: (two days after the championship game)

"He's coming back!"

me "really sam? why do you think that?"

"cause he's the toughest guy on the court and he wants his jersey in the rafters with those other guys !"

"kyle singler is like shane battier, he's not going to LET duke lose"

Repeated admonitions from me to help prepare for disappointment were met with "he's coming BACK dad!"


On JJ Redick:

"you don't want to foul THAT guy!"


on coach k: (he's had so many things, but i thought these were great)

(when the olympics STARTED )

"he's gonna show the world how we do it at duke !"

and

"lebron and kobe are sorry they didn't play at duke"



Sam really stressed about Coach K having to play against quinn snyder and said that Quinn was duke "family", so what would coach k do?

sam didn't watch the game...



On Coach Cutt:

"why would he leave duke for tennessee?"



he sleeps under a duke light in his room every night, on a duke pillow and duke banners....reading back over this...i'm wondering why i don't take him to vegas...


again, thank you all...

[DukeGirl4ever]

Moonpie,

I can't think of any other way of saying this but THANK YOU for giving us a glimpse of Sam's "view" of Duke and life. Whew. You guys should write a book. I'd buy it...everything that kid says makes sense.

And now on to my next box of tissues.

[Newton_14]

thank you to everyone who has PM'd me and left responses here...yes, sam is an amazing kid and i reflect on how blessed i am (as are the people who come in contact with him) to be his his father. I got misty reading all of your comments so i feel like i should tell more about him...

Even tho sam is 16, the severe dose of full body radiation he received for his bone marrow transplant really knocked his IQ back considerably, but he shows so much "life" insight, it's difficult to think he's not on a 16 yr olds mental level...

over the years, sam has used the duke BB program, football program, coach k and even the assistant coaches as lessons in a great many "sam-isms" in life.

Although there are many, i'll share a few choice ones with you...sometimes, the smallest thing he says turns out to reflect heavily on a situation.


On Greg Paulus:
Sam always identifies with the kid that is getting kicked and put down. He loved greg paulus, met him after games and corresponded with him via email. His email to Greg told greg how he knew how if felt to be on the bench but that everyone had a "part" and that he (sam) had learned from Greg and coach K to always be READY to come in the game and do your part.

"dad, greg is a pure dukie through and through!"



On Zoubek:
The first game of the season, sam said "dad, brian's foot is ok now and you watch...he's going to be the best duke player this year and he's going to lead us to the championship !"....when brian had his break-out game against maryland, sam said "i told you dad, he's been hurt. Now you're going to see what he can do" when they won the title, he simple said "i told you!"...

also, one time when we were waiting outside of the dressing room in cameron after a game, one of the staff saw him in his wheelchair and came over to ask sam if we were waiting for autographs...we said yes, and the guy said that he didn't think the team was coming out that night and asked sam for his program to get him some autographs. "who's do you want?" asked the aid. "brian zoubeck" said sam. "who else?" said the aid..."nobody, just brian zoubek" sam replied.


On Jon Scheyer:

"jon is a lot better player than people think he is...when all the other guys are trying to show off, jon is thinking about the game..."

also

"jon will take em to the hole!"


On Mason Plumlee: (we met mason at the game AFTER he hurt his hand and was in the "cast". Sam looked up from his wheelchair and said in awe, "man, he's really tall"....later, after we were heading back to the car, I repeated the fact that mason was really tall and sam said, "he's going to need more than tall. He'll have to learn not to be out of position"...

On Shane Battier: (he met shane, dunleavy, jason williams, and johnny dawkins in the cameron locker room once). Shane spent almost a half an hour with sam and got all the other players autographs for him.

"dad, you can't stop shane battier, but he can stop you!" and

"dad, shane battier uses math....you can't beat that!"

"dad, the rockets would be crap without shane"

On Nolan Smith:

"Nolan is going to be the best player for duke NEXT year!"

On kyle singler: (two days after the championship game)

"He's coming back!"

me "really sam? why do you think that?"

"cause he's the toughest guy on the court and he wants his jersey in the rafters with those other guys !"

"kyle singler is like shane battier, he's not going to LET duke lose"

Repeated admonitions from me to help prepare for disappointment were met with "he's coming BACK dad!"


On JJ Redick:

"you don't want to foul THAT guy!"


on coach k: (he's had so many things, but i thought these were great)

(when the olympics STARTED )

"he's gonna show the world how we do it at duke !"

and

"lebron and kobe are sorry they didn't play at duke"



Sam really stressed about Coach K having to play against quinn snyder and said that Quinn was duke "family", so what would coach k do?

sam didn't watch the game...



On Coach Cutt:

"why would he leave duke for tennessee?"



he sleeps under a duke light in his room every night, on a duke pillow and duke banners....reading back over this...i'm wondering why i don't take him to vegas...


again, thank you all...

Wow. That is really awesome stuff. Sam is a very smart guy and picks up on unique things about our players that the casual fan would likely miss. It's obvious he is a very special kid. You are blessed to have him as a son.

This made my day. Thanks for sharing..

Boozer

[DukieInKansas]

I waited to watch until I was home. I remember how touching this was from seeing it a year ago. Thank you for linking it.

Your son Sam is a very wise young man. I hope you share his Samisms frequently.

[soccerstud2210]

wow this is what it is about.

thank you so much for that video. what a reality check.

how many things do i take for granted everyday. what an unbelievable story and testimony.

now to go wipe my eyes again

[gep]

moonpie23...

I didn't want to "fill up" the thread by repeating (quoting) your post... but I had to reply to your post on "sam-isms"... which were VERY touching for me. I especially like his view on Greg and Brian... just an amazing insight. And, his take on Kyle returning... again, amazing. He sees life in different, and very special, ways... Thanks for sharing