The excitement of the NBA and NHL playoffs makes it easy to forget there is a very important day lurking in the not-so-distant future.
Sunday is the day to honour the ladies that drove us all to soccer practice, washed our smelly hockey equipment and made dinner for our entire basketball team. That’s right; it’s Mother’s Day.
Don’t panic. You still have time to buy a card and some flowers. You’ll just have to pencil it in between watching Alex Ovechkin being Ovechkin and Kobe Bryant shock and awe.
Tip: Make a note in your smart phone now, and don’t leave it until Sunday morning.
In honour of this special day, I’d like to pay tribute to some of the greatest mothers from the world of professional sports.
1. Braden Holtby’s mom wins the award for most animated supporter. Tami Holtby stole the show at Wednesday night’s Washington Capitals game against the New York Rangers with her reactions to close saves by her son.
2. While Holtby is entertaining, she could probably get some cheerleading tips from Ray Allen’s mom, Flo. Flo’s been cheering on her dear Boston Celtics’ guard for sixteen seasons and claims she’s never missed a game. Considering the fact that anyone who’s watched a Celtics home game has surely seen her in the stands screaming and clapping, it’s probably true.
3. Mrs. McNabb, America’s self-proclaimed ‘favourite sports mom’, also stole the spotlight from her quarterback son Donovan with her Campbell’s Soup commercials in 2002. She played the role of ‘Team Mom’. How appropriate.
4. Vince Carter’s mom, Michelle, has proven that even grown men who make millions need their mother’s to have their backs once in a while. Michelle was somewhat omnipresent during Vince’s time with the Toronto Raptors, appearing courtside and sharing her opinions on her son and the team with anyone with a recorder and the will to listen.
5. Carter isn’t alone when it comes to having mommy on your side. Denver Nuggets centre Javale McGee has a pretty fierce defender in his corner. Former WNBA player Pamela McGee has been known to throw a death stare or two to anyone to who has the gall to chirp her son in her presence. Pamela, like Mama Carter, has also always been quick, to jump to Javale’s defense but for the most part she plays the non-threatening role of Javale’s biggest cheerleader.
Side note: In the midst of her WNBA career Pamela McGee was involved in a custody battle with her ex-husband over her then four-year-old daughter, Imani. McGee’s ex and his lawyers sited her demanding basketball career as the primary reason that he should have sole custody of their daughter. McGee wasn’t buying it.
6. Even though the world knows her better as Sandra Bullock, Leanne Tuohy undoubtedly deserves a spot on this list. She’s the only mom on this list that had a movie made about her and her family, and on top of that, her fictional self even won an Oscar!
I’m certain she’d say these accomplishments don’t hold a candle to raising her son, Michael Oher, who she adopted when he was a teenager and raised to be a college football star and eventual left tackle with the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL.
7. Bonnie Lindros, mother of former Toronto Maple Leaf and Philadelphia Flyer Eric Lindros, made waves throughout the NHL community for the better part of Eric’s career. If you looked up ‘hockey mom’ in the dictionary, you’d surely find Bonnie’s picture. Her and Eric were a packaged deal. You didn’t get one without the other, and everyone in the NHL knew it.
8. In February 2011, tennis player Kim Clijsters beat Jelena Dokic at the Open de Gaz in Paris to jump to No. 1 in the WTA rankings. She became the first mother to ever hold the No. 1 spot. No baby could stop her from being the best female tennis player in the world.
Honourable mentions:
Tony Wilson’s mom — Fed up with watching her son get beaten in the boxing ring, she jumped right in to take matters into her own hands.
James Reimer’s mom — While the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender was out with an ‘upper body injury’, Marlene Reimer shared her concerns about the growing number of concussions with the media. She was the first person to speak publicly on his injury, while the team and the goalie himself remained mum.
Christie Rampone — In 2009, she helped her last-seeded Sky Blue FC through the playoffs, and played a large part in their championship victory. Rampone did all this while she was three months pregnant.
Amber Miller — She was almost 39 weeks pregnant when she ran the Chicago Marathon last October. Her baby must have been fed up withal the bouncing around because Miller gave birth to a healthy baby girl just hours after crossing the finish line.