My oldest son, Steve, is famous to the general public, but to my husband and me he is just a son who has lived a good life.

As parents, Grit and I make no distinction among our children, even though one of them is a member of both the college and pro-football halls of fame after playing for BYU and the 49ers. We recognize them for their own merits.

When someone asks us. "How is your son?" we reply, "Which one?"

Then, if given the chance, we throw in that we also have a daughter.

I mention Steve because of a Wall Street Journal article Grit handed me the other day headlined, "The Trouble with Tim Tebow."

Now, if you are not a football aficionado, Tebow is a left-handed quarterback who plays at Florida. The sports pundits are questioning if he'll make it in the NFL because — believe it or not — southpaws haven't been very successful there.

The reasons for this are several, the first being that on a deep throw from a lefty, the ball will spin differently. That requires the receiver to adjust for the difference.

It also affects the balance on the offensive line and the direction of plays. And, perhaps most importantly, the team would need its best tackle on the right side — the QB's blind side — instead of on the left.

College coaches will put up with things like that. But when it comes to the NFL, where precision is so important, they are not always willing to tolerate a lefty.

Maybe the team used a high draft pick and paid a ton of money for a left tackle. Can they switch him to play right?

It made me chuckle when I read that one of the common traits was the lefty's predilection for running over passing.

That sure was Steve for many of his playing years.

Who knew?

The road from little league to the hall of fame is long and bumpy. I will never forget one game when Steve was with Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers were playing in Green Bay in the middle of a blinding snowstorm.

Tampa Bay was dressed in white uniforms; Green Bay in their traditional dark green. Talk about a home-field advantage!

His white-clad teammates were invisible to Steve. I tear up even writing this so many years later.

Time after time, Steve's face was shoved into the turf in that hard cold snow. It was just more than a mother should have to watch.

Another game I couldn't watch was when Steve and the 49ers were playing Kansas City. Chiefs linebacker Derrrick Thomas hit Steve time and time again.

I finally put my running shoes on and went running until it was all over.

In spite of all that, he's lucky and seems to be fine mentally and physically. Best of all, he's happily married and the father of four great kids.

And reading that article about left-handed quarterbacks was enjoyable. Especially the part where Darren Everson wrote, "The pinnacle of lefty quarterbacks remains Mr. Young … who holds the highest career quarterback rating in NFL history (96.8)."

To a parent who watched a little boy with big dreams grow into a man, there are a few times when I can't help thumping our chests — even if it was really Steve's talents not ours that got him there.

e-mail: sasyoung2@aol.com