Some personal thoughts for this year's unforgettable Father's Day Weekend. I am one of three sons. The father of three and grandfather of five wonderful children. I am taking time to pay tribute to my great, late father Antoñiquito, for the strict rules, my personality, including Cuban coffee breath, the corny dad jokes... well, except for this one just now. To all fathers of all sizes, ages everywhere on the World Wide Web... Enjoy your Fathers Day weekend!
Looking back across several decades, it's easy to find criticized actions for that moment yet acclaimed years later. and the reverse is just as common. Time can be a great healer when it comes to critical appraisal. But it can also be unforgiving, stripping away the goodwill, and a reputation once enjoyed.
For decades and multiple generations, media dads have set the gold standard for fatherhood, dispensing wisdom, offering steady support, and somehow quickly solving life's biggest problems. Father knows best gave us the quiet, even-keeled father who never raised his voice but always seemed to know the right thing to say. All in the family gave us something messier, a dad whose flaws were the point, holding up a mirror to a country still working through its difficulties.
As Radio and Television evolves, so do all fathers who populate the media landscape. The Cosby Show was, for a generation, the standard-bearer: a brilliant, warm, unflappable presence who made fatherhood look like both a discipline and a joy. That legacy hasn't survived intact, once Bill's real-life conduct came to light, a character so many families had let into their homes became inseparable from the man who played him. It's a sharp reminder that the dads we admire on screen are never fully separate from the people who bring them to life.
The modern era has delivered a broader, more dynamic mix of dads that better reflects the diversity of American families and culture. DaD, aka Uncle BoB tries to balance a moral seriousness wrapped in love to give my family the lovable, slightly ridiculous dad who sometimes tries hard and means every bit of it. A father whose strength can be measured in tenderness, not toughness.
Some dads remain beloved icons whose lessons still resonate today. Others have seen their legacies complicated by scandal, controversy, or simply the way public attitudes shift underneath them. And for a few, the fall from grace, or the rehabilitation of one continues to unfold.
Whether celebrated, scrutinized, or somewhere in between, dads who work in media continue to serve as a reflection of how Americans view family, masculinity, and fatherhood, not as fixed ideals, but as moving targets that say as much about us as they do about the men on screen and behind the scene.
I've never claimed to have been a perfect dad. I've only tried to do my very best. And in the end, that's all I can say. Upon us all, some rain will fall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=_n1Bxp-YfTs
My ex and I witnessed the performance of this song live and in concert when we while we were dating. This tune was recorded the same year of our marriage as I went on to become a father in real life. Therefore, I dedicate this to my children, their children and any great grandchildren in the future.
As I approach the age when my dad died too soon, I leave them with the following thoughts.
To the fathers of the 118 million people around the world have been displaced by conflict and crisis, with young children among the most vulnerable.
Be the best person you can be, read as much as you possibly can, respect mother nature, and never turn your back on the ocean nor a tiger.
