MINNEAPOLIS -- In case you're wondering, watching your child play sports isn't any easier when that child is in the major leagues.
Just ask Chuck and Dorothy Erstad of Jamestown, N.D., parents of Anaheim Angels center fielder Darin Erstad.
Darin and the Angels are playing the Minnesota Twins in the American League Championship Series at the Metrodome. So Chuck and Dorothy are sitting in Section 118 behind Anaheim's dugout, rooting for their son in the midst of Homer Hanky madness.
"You never get over it. It's always nerve-wracking," Dorothy said prior to Game 2 Wednesday. "You're always a parent and they are always your child. It doesn't matter if it is Little League or Legion or the major leagues. It is still the same feeling as a parent."
Chuck admits to pacing during tense moments, just like any nervous father wanting his child to perform well.
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"Maybe I don't get it quite as bad as I used to, but you still get that feeling in big games," he said.
And this is a series filled with big games. The winner earns a berth in the World Series.
"When you see how hard he's worked and he's gotten this far, you want it keep going," Dorothy said.
The Erstads attended all of Anaheim's division series playoff games against the New York Yankees. They said watching Darin play postseason games in Yankee Stadium, the hallowed ground of baseball, was special. So, too, was watching the underdog Angels knock off the powerful Yankees in four games.
But they said attending playoff games at the Metrodome was special, too.
"It is nice having Darin back here to play in big games in the stadium he went to as a kid," Dorothy said.
Ah yes, we cannot forget the Jamestown/Twins/Erstad dilemma. It goes something like this: Folks in Jamestown, solid Twins country, want their hometown boy to play well ... but they want the Angels to lose so the Twins can advance.
"It's tough because Jamestown won't let go of their Twins and we understand that," Chuck said. "I've had a lot of people tell me, 'I hope Darin goes 5-for-5 in every game, but I hope the Twins beat them.'"
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Chuck and Dorothy, like Darin, wish the Twins well when they are not playing the Angels. But they are solidly in Anaheim's corner now, and understandably so.
This is not the first time the Erstads have had to endure Darin playing in a major sporting event. As a college football player at Nebraska, Darin played in the Orange Bowl in the national championship game.
How do the baseball playoffs compare with that?
"This has been like four, five or six Orange Bowls," Chuck said.
By the way, even though Darin has been in the big leagues for six seasons now, he said it is still meaningful to have his parents in the stands watching him.
"They're the ones that basically made me who I am. I want them to enjoy all the experiences that they gave me the opportunity to have," Darin said. "They are the start of it, they are the core. I couldn't have two better parents. They've always been there for me."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Mike McFeely at (701) 241-5580
