Every time I drive by a House of Bagels shop, a Noah's Bagels establishment or even see Bagel Bites at the grocery store, I think of Gabriel Lagatta.
I can't help it. It just happens.
Even if I'm contemplating buying a dozen bagels, or thinking of spreading cream cheese a mile high topped with strawberries, I think of him.
I've tried to justify it, sometimes explain it to friends, but it just keeps happening. As I'll relate later, I'm not the only one captivated by his mystique.
You see, Lagatta, a.k.a. Bagel, is actually a T-ball player for the River Cats in Morgan Hill's Pony Baseball Shetland Division. He's affectionately known as Bagel by his parents, his siblings, fellow players and every mother who wants to take him home to be their own.
For me, he's the epitome of what youth sports is all about and how the game should be played, not how all of us sometimes want it to be played. If every kid approached a game the way Lagatta does, our society would be a better place in the amateur sporting realm.
He's very unassuming like most kids his age, and when he takes his 721 strides to reach first base (well, it seems like that many) he brings a smile to everyone in attendance and when he reaches that destination applause abounds everywhere for the cute kid that's demonstrating what sincere determination is all about.
You just got to love the kid.
He's determined to do well, but the excitement in his eyes and his exuberant demeanor shows you he probably hasn't figured out the competitive side of youth sports just yet. And that's a good thing. The longer he exhibits his fun loving personality, the better.
Oh, I'm sure he's like any other young kid that spills grape jelly on the new couch, swings from the lamps in the family room, and refuses to take a shower even though he's tar and feathered and smells like a skunk. I can't picture him doing those things but his parents will truthfully say he's a handful.
Well, I'll take him. Then again, maybe for just a day. I already have a handful.
He genuinely loves his brother but won't give in to him for anything and his competitive spirit will undoubtedly be forthcoming in years to follow. Watching them both race for the post game snack assured me of this.
Now, this kid is no slouch. He's got range, loves to dive and has the best head first slide in the league. Watching him perform that stunt is priceless. Being slightly taller than Babe Ruth's bat probably makes it easier for him to attempt that slide since he's considerably closer to the ground than most.
Sliding isn't really a big deal on the T-ball level, but try telling that to a kid who thinks his next head first slide is the winning run for the seventh game of the World Series.
His position on the field is the hot corner, third base, and Lagatta enjoys being entrenched in that position waiting to happily make another throw to first base with all his might. Once, on an errant throw, he hit a parent.
In true Bagel fashion he giggled and just got ready for the next hitter. He didn't have a care in the world for the bad throw and didn't give it a second thought. He's just having fun at the yard.
Slightly bigger than a yardstick, you could most likely outfit him at Build A Bear, but watching him in his uniform you immediately sense he's really proud of the uniform he wears. He's probably got it on before the crack of dawn.
Despite being small in stature, he's long on determination and will power. His endless amount of energy is quite evident as he sprints for the trampoline at the end of practice to show off his prowess in, of all things, slam dunking.
Upon getting up one morning, one of Lagatta's teammates, when asked by his mom what he wanted for breakfast remarked, "I'll take a Bagel Lagatta!"
Hopefully the local bagel shop will take note of this because it could become a big hit, much like Lagatta already is.
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A football patriarch
