The story of Chip and Max Hooper

You hear that sports are silly and shallow and even pointless, and maybe once in a while you even think that yourself. And then you hear the story of Max and Chip Hooper.

In late February, Chip flew from California to Michigan to watch the last regular-season game of his son Max's senior year at Oakland University. Chip had planned to see a whole bunch of Max's games this season, even as he battled cancer, but then, right before the season started, he had a stroke. "The stroke was a whole new ballgame," Max says. "That was transformative."

So Chip missed the whole season until the very end, when he showed up for senior night on Feb. 26 and watched the Grizzlies beat Detroit from a bed in the…