Fansfrenzy Corporation (FFZY)

[bonedaddy77]

This is a good article on the CEO of HRRN, Gary Molinaro

http://iblcardinals.com/view/hamiltoncardinalsibl/news-1345/news_450790

What does it take to be among the world's greatest dads?

To answer that question, picture yourself as a sports fanatic, someone who lives and breathes sports. If you can put yourself in that picture, the answer is easy.

The perfect dad would buy you season's tickets to the Ticats, score you a private box at FirstOntario Centre to watch the Bulldogs. He'll take you to any game at McMaster you want, be it football, volleyball or basketball. Buy you a baseball team and make you president, just because you like to keep score. And launch a sports website, because he knows you're a whiz with sports trivia.

"Impossible, there's not a dad in the world that would do all that!" Sorry, you'd be wrong if that's what you thought. Because there is a dad who has done all that. What's more, he's lived in this city his entire life. His name is Gary Molinaro.

Gary's a great father to all three of his kids, but what makes him a shoe-in to be on the 'world's best dads' list is the relationship he has with his son John Paul (J.P.).

Life for J.P. didn't start out well. He came into the world with the odds stacked against him. J.P. would never do the things other kids do. But as so often happens in life, bad and good tend to balance out. In J.P's case, life handed him a lemon in the form of a disability and, to try to make amends, gave him Gary for a dad.

J.P. lucked out in the dad department. But then again, anyone who has seen the two of them together would say they're lucky to have each other.

For John Paul, Gary is the most important person in his life and the subject of virtually every other sentence. For Gary, John Paul is his best buddy, the one person he always makes time for. You wouldn't know Gary is a business owner with a company to run. For Gary, no business deal is more important than J.P.

In a typical week, Gary takes J.P. to more sporting events than most of us attend in a year. Often, they'll attend several games in a single day. Of course, it's all because of JP. Most guys like sports, as does Gary. But for J.P. it's his passion, his only passion. It's the reason he looks forward to waking up every day.

As a youngster, John Paul, like many autistic kids, struggled for something to latch on to, something that would help him make sense of the world. Sports would become J.P.'s obsession and salvation.

Gary, bless his heart, realizing J.P. will never hit a ball, throw a football or lace up a pair of skates, made the commitment to give his son every chance in the world to experience his passion in the only way he could — as a spectator and fan. Making life meaningful for his only son was Gary's way to take a sad situation and make it the best he could.

And that's why the two of them are fixtures at Hamilton sporting events. If you attended a game in this city in this century, chances are you've seen or rubbed shoulders with Gary and J.P.

For them, it doesn't matter what game they're watching. What matters is they're there together. If you're lucky to be in stands within earshot, you'll find that the game's commentary is often more entertaining than the game itself, particularly when they direct the commentary at each other. It's even funnier when you understand that underneath the sniping, bickering and sarcastic put-downs is a bond unlike any other father/son relationship.

We can only guess what J.P. sees when he looks at his dad. Probably someone that resembles Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby rolled into one.

If they handed out a trophy for best dad, Gary would walk away with it every year. His son J.P. would gladly be there to hand it to him. And I'm laughing already at what he might say to needle his dad.

Full disclosure: I'm proud to call Gary my brother-in-law. John Paul (J.P.) is my cherished nephew, who has a form of autism called Asperger Syndrome.

Bernie Dobrucki is a writer who works in Toronto.
Originally posted on the Hamilton Spectator Website.