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It’s a couple of days before Christmas 2007, and the weather in North Carolina is unseasonably warm. The perfect time for Andrew Zarzour -- back home in the Tar Heel state for the holidays -- to hit the golf course with his buddies.
Both of Andrew’s best friends from childhood, Robbie Maine and Brandon Weaver, are home as well and join him at the Wake Forest Country Club, about 25 minutes from Bunn. Dads of the three young men join their sons on the course, along with Andrew’s younger brother Timmy and Jeff Innis, who still coaches the Bunn High baseball team that all of the young guys played on several years ago.
It’s just a great day all around for the eight players, full of laughter and memories and Christmas cheer. The scores don’t really matter, though Andrew finds himself having a great round early on.
Andrew and Timmy ride in the same cart and spend much of the front nine discussing Timmy’s desire to give professional baseball a try. Andrew kind of laughs at first until he realizes that his little bro is serious.
“It sounds crazy, Andrew, but when I was in Afghanistan, baseball somehow became a refuge for me and several of the guys in my unit,“ Timmy said. “We hung on every detail we could get of not only the Phillies and your pitching, but the league itself. We went crazy when we heard about Prince Fielder breaking the home run record, and all that.
“Some nights, I’d stay awake just dreaming of being out there on a ball field somewhere -- it didn't matter where, a small Class A town in Alaska for all I care -- just playing ball. No wars. No worries of suicide attacks. Just baseball, a community of fans rallying around us and a team to be a part of.
“I realize I didn’t take baseball very seriously in high school but I still think I have the tools somewhere inside of me to make something of myself in the game,” Timmy continued. “Maybe I’ll never make it to the Majors, or even Double A. But I don’t care. If you’d be willing to work with me and help me, I’d love to give it a shot. If nothing else to put off having to deal with being in the real world for a few years.”
Andrew loved the idea of having another Zarzour in the baseball world -- this one a catcher/first baseman -- and pledged to do whatever he could to get his little brother ready.
“First things first, though, little brother. I’ve got to finish kicking your tail here on the golf course. You're five strokes back, and there is no way you’re going to catch me today, even with those 300 yard drives you keep pulling off.”
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