Show and tell is always an adventure. Post-toddler students bring in all sorts of things from their pet rocks to their pictures from Disney World to their Masters of the Universe: Mer-Man Evil Ocean Warlord action figures. But for Michael "Mic" and Terrence Davis "T.D." Roof--Duke head football coach Ted Roof's five-year-old twin sons--the pre-school pastime is even more special.
"They brought [Duke defensive end] Casey Camero for show and tell," Mic and T.D.'s mother Pam Roof said with a laugh. "The teachers and students thought it was cool. I don't know how Casey felt about it."
It is quite obvious how the boys feel.
The two busy twins have become a permanent fixture on the Duke football team ever since coach Roof's arrival two years ago as defensive coordinator. Starting with the 2001 season, Mic and T.D. have gleefully played on the sidelines of nearly every practice as they watch their favorite team prepare for future games.
"Coming to practice is their favorite thing to do," coach Roof said. "They stay on the sidelines and they tackle dummies, they bring the football out and play catch...normally after practice we get a game of baseball going. It's like a sports bonanza."
The players enjoy T.D. and Mic's presence nearly as much as the kids enjoy being around the players. Starting quarterback Mike Schneider said the little giants reminded him of his childhood.
Schneider,who is the son of a high school coach, spent much of his youth on the sidelines of football practice.
"I can definitely relate to it," he said. "They're great kids. They impress me with their athletic ability all the time."
The Roof family greatly appreciates all the attention the players pay to their only two children.
"When you become a parent, the way people treat your children really means a lot," Pam Roof said. "The players treat Mic and T.D. great. I care a lot about the players."
The team and the twins shared perhaps their most special moment when T.D. and Mic turned five a few weekends ago. Roof's children requested that they have their birthday party with the team, and a Sunday after practice the entire Blue Devil squad sang "Happy Birthday" to the twins before eating ice cream and cake.
The two twins are far from identical, as T.D. has a darker complexion while Mic sports blonde hair. T.D. is also the far more aggressive of the two; Mic's combativeness developed solely to keep up with T.D., their mother said.
"T.D. is going to be a linebacker, much like his Dad," she said.
Coach Roof tries to spend as much time with his children as possible, but hours are long and intense in Division I college coaching. While a defensive coordinator at Duke, Roof's typical work days would begin at 6 a.m. and end at 11 p.m. The transition to head coach has made things even worse, as the former All-ACC linebacker is at the office by 6 a.m. and often does not leave until 2 a.m. or later.
But as bad as these circumstances seem at Duke, the situation was even worse when Roof was the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech for the first three years of the twins' lives. The hours were comparable, but the Roof's home was more than 45 minutes away from the Yellow Jackets' practice field.
Now the Roofs live less than five minutes away from Wallace Wade, allowing the twins accessibility to practice. The new head coach also is able to visit the boys at their school during lunch hours now.
"When I have down time, I want to be with my boys," coach Roof said. "That's really all I want to do. I drop by the school every once in a while during the day to say, 'How are you doing? Dad loves you. I'm proud of you, I'm glad your my boys.'"
The boys think it is "cool" to have a football coach as a Dad, but Roof understands that the flux world of college football will inevitably cause job changes. The coach says the boys are very perceptive to this aspect of college football life.
"Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for," he said. "We kind of explained to them what happened [with former Duke head coach Carl Franks being fired], and they said, 'If things don't work out, are we going to have to move?'"
But for now, the players and coaches cherish being with Mic and T.D., as they will always be able to tell of--if not show--the great times they had with the twins.
"They're cool to have around," senior linebacker Ryan Fowler said. "They pretty much know most of the guys on the team by name. They're tough little kids."
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