Saturday Night Steelers Open Thread: Happy Fathers Day Edition

I’ll ask you all to indulge this crazy canuck a bit tonight...

Tomorrow will be a bit of a bittersweet day for me. On the positive side, I have children (and the incredible Mrs. Canuck) to celebrate with, and we have a full day planned. I will be showered with affection as a good Dad deserves. However, this will also mark the 20^th Father’s Day without my Dad.

I miss him, his friendship, his laugh, his uncanny ability to stir the pot, certainly his counsel, but most of all, I miss what could have been. I missed out on having a chance to really celebrate the birth of my children. He was still alive for the birth of our first, but he was pretty sick by then and a shell of his former self. I missed out on having him attend my son’s hockey games. He would have been over the moon happy with the grades that my kids got. He always busted on us...if you pulled an 87 on a test he would literally say “That’s nice, but what happened to the other 13 %”… But again, I simply miss him, him presence, his laugh, his thoughts, his words and his love.

My Dad had his faults, like the rest of us, but he was MY Dad. He was a huge influence in my life and taught me countless important life lessons. He loved all his kids and was ridiculously proud of each of us. I am his carbon copy in that respect.

Please don’t read this and be down. No good father would want his kid to feel down due to anything about him and I know mine certainly would feel that way. However, it truly is bittersweet that my life has many of the things that he preached about and we cannot enjoy it together. He had simple wants and needs - good food, a good book, good friends and good times. Honesty, integrity and respect were the words he lived by to allow him to get those ‘simple things’.

Family meant everything to him and thus it is everything to me. And I do mean everything. Canuck Sr. was a straight shooter who often went out of his way to emphasize or illustrate life lessons that reinforced “that family was the most important thing in life”. I will surely be thinking of him tomorrow throughout the course of the day. I will also be thinking of my 2 brothers tomorrow. Dad would be incredibly proud of them and the kids that they have done a fantastic job raising.

To all you Dads out there, I hope you have a great day tomorrow. To those of you that are lucky enough to have your Dad still around I certainly hope you can give him a hug tomorrow (fist bumps are so 2020 after all). Tell him what he really means to you. Tell your kids too.

Lastly, If you are a dad, take a minute to take it all in. I am sure you have started your own amazing legacy.

Hopefully my thoughts are shared by you...

On to the questions...

1. Alex Highsmith’s father is on twitter and he regularly posts about his son. This is something that is relatively new. Is this a Dad being a proud Dad, is this Dad helping promote his son’s brand or is it something else entirely?
2. The Steelers have a long entrenched tradition of success. What would you say is the most important part of that tradition come game day?
3. Last night late in the Habs vs. Knights game Marc Andre Fleury had a horrible gaff (worse than the earlier gaff by Staal). What is your most memorable gaff that allowed the Steelers to win? If you can’t recall one, you can just settle for any NFL gaff but it can’t be obvious (looking at you Leon Lett).
4. Best gift you gave or received for fathers day?
5. What are your plans for tomorrow? Are able to see your pops (or your father in law - come on, we can suffer together)? What special things are planned or are you anticipating surprises? Lastly, and naturally, what is on the menu?