Devan has "it"!

My buddy Mike would come over to the house on the weekends to watch sports. We would watch all the games. University of Michigan, Michigan State, Lions, Tigers, Piston, and Red Wings. It did not matter to us, we were sports fanatics. If a game was on, we watched.

Both boys absolutely loved to watch with us. Running around the house, sports gear everywhere, they would pretend they were the athletes on the screen. Mimicking every play. This would go on until the wee hours, into the late Pac 10 games. It was a blast, we couldn't wait for the weekend.

One weekend sticks out in my mind more than any other. We were watching the Detroit Red Wings. Devan as usual had his little hockey set, playing with the guys on tv. He would really get into it. Shooting the puck(foam ball) all around the house, tear after it, whack it back across the house, chase back after it. He was having a blast. In between periods the Red Wings had a fan come down. The fan had a chance to win a decent chunk of change if he could hit the puck through a little slot in the goal from center ice. Can't be that hard right? Wrong! the guy didn't even come close.

Brilliant that we were, we decide to go out side and give it a go. I had pavement all the way from the back door to the fence, which was probably 30-40ft. One slat of the fence had broken off, it was a little wider than a puck. Perfect we thought. We grabbed my hockey stick and a street hockey puck. Can't be that hard right? Wrong. I played a bit of pond hockey growing up and was half way decent. I took a shot. No, another, no no no no no. I don't know how many times I tried, it was a bunch, and never came close. Next up was Mike. No...........no......no. Same results, this was pretty difficult for the regular Joe.

Devan is out there the whole time with his fisher price skates, his little stick, and a tennis ball, whacking it against the neighbors garage. Patiently waiting his turn. I set him up about ten feet from the slat, put the tennis ball down and stepped back. He immediately kicks the ball back towards the house, tosses the little stick the same way. He grabs my stick and the puck, skates(sort of) back to where we were shooting from, puts the puck down and fires.

I still can't believe what took place. Not only did he make it, the puck never even glanced the fence. Went through clean as a whistle. We are stunned! We look at each other and laugh. "No way he can do that again" I said in disbelief. Mike gets the puck, Devan sets it down, takes a shot, and perfect. Hooting and hollering the whole time, telling us how crappie we were. He must have shot 20 times and put damn near every one right through that slat. We were dumbfounded, this was unbelievable. He finally misses 3-4 in a row, storms off into the house, sits down, and watches the rest of the game.

Mike turns to me with a serious look and says "He has got to play hockey". I, still stunned, just nod my head in agreement. At that instant I knew he had "it". Just like his big brother, he had "it".