There is a question I have often asked yet never received a satisfactory answer for from either a coach or player.

I consider it one of the biggest mysteries in sports.

Why do teams play so much better at home than they do on the road?

This year, the Milwaukee Brewers are tied with the Chicago Cubs for first place in the National League Central.

The Brewers have the best record in the National League at home at 37-19, but are just 21-32 on the road.

Last year the Utah Jazz were 31-10 at home and under .500 on the road (20-21).

The Indianapolis Colts, last year's Super Bowl Champs, were 8-0 at home, but just 4-4 on the road.

I have heard a lot of theories and a lot of excuses, but I've come to the conclusion that the answer to that question is really as simple as it sounds.

The home crowd.

Fans can make a difference. They can change the outcome.

There is something about having someone cheer for you that helps brings out the best in individual performances. A second wind is achieved, intensity is heightened and sometimes records are broken. Upsets are recorded and sometimes great and illogical things are accomplished.

I hope that's the case for Sean Broderick. He could use a little fan support.

I saw Broderick a few weeks ago. When I knocked on his door, I didn't think anyone was home because it took him so long to answer the door.

It took him even longer to walk up the stairs.

I had no doubt that Broderick would have been a star in high school. You would have heard of him on a regular basis; but instead, his high school playing days came and went in relative obscurity.

As a freshman, he was as good a quarterback and linebacker as there was in Utah County. In baseball, he was one of the top players in his class. He was an excellent catcher, a very good pitcher and one of the top hitters on the team.

Sean's father, Van, who works with his cousin Chad at Broderick Construction, could hardly wait. All the years working with his only son, coaching him in baseball Super Leagues and watching him, were about to pay off.

But on many building projects, life has of way of going by its own blueprints.

It all started in the winter of Sean's sophomore year. He was at a friend's house eating when he had a seizure. He felt a twitch in his neck and became light-headed.

Within a few weeks Broderick was having seizures three times a week and he was told by a doctor that his football and baseball days were over.

Being the competitor Broderick is, he figured out a compromise. He found new doctors, moved to the outfield in baseball and to football coach Dale Sampson's credit, he allowed Broderick to be the kicker on the football team.

It was a settlement, so to speak. But before Sean could even begin to accept his new role, the situation got worse.

While participating in two-a-days, Broderick tried to throw a football five yards but couldn't do it.

"I just tried to throw a football and I felt the worst pain of my life up to that point," Broderick said with a laugh, because of what would follow. "It just killed. I couldn't do it."

Broderick was told he had tendonitis in his shoulder, but that didn't make much sense and his shoulder didn't get any better.

Frustrated by the lack of progress, Van took Sean to Phoenix to see a back specialist and after waiting all day in the doctor's office, they got shut out. They tried again the next day and finally, at the end of the second day, the doctor saw him, but only to find nothing new.

Eventually Sean had an MRI on his shoulder and in the process, a tumor was discovered in his neck.

He had surgery on his shoulder in February of his junior year and five days later had surgery to remove his tumor.

He was out for the next six months, missing his junior year in baseball. He returned to kick for the Vikings' football team in 2006 and made the baseball team as a senior. He pitched two-thirds of an inning in a preseason game against American Fork, but never got the chance to pitch again.

I guess dreams never do come true just exactly how you picture them.

Quietly, and seemingly without notice, Broderick's high school career was over, leaving him to wonder what could have been.

Sean seemed to be making some progress. In fact, I called him to fill in and play on a summer league baseball team. I remember the game vividly. He hit a two-run homer to left.

Sean graduated from Pleasant Grove in 2006 and spent the summer doing the things he loved to do, boating at Lake Powell, sleeping in.

He decided to serve an LDS church mission and was called to El Paso, Texas. He was only in Texas a few weeks when he was blindsided by another setback.

A day after Christmas he was riding his bike when a lady pulled out of a Wal-Mart parking lot and sent him flying. Broderick believed he was okay. He got back on his damaged bike and made it home. When he woke up the next morning, he couldn't move.

He was told in another two weeks he would be as good as new. Two weeks came and went. Two months came and went. It's now been seven months and Broderick's back still hasn't healed. He was sent back to his home in Lindon to recover.

He's not a 20-year-old ball of energy playing dunk ball, planning a hike up Mount Timpanogos, or running a 5K just for kicks.

"My friends call me grandpa, because I walk slow and I can't get around very well," Broderick said. "I have a hard time walking, going up and down stairs. Basically anything that requires a lot of movement, it hurts."

He is trying to work and he is trying to keep the faith, the faith that one day he will realize the biggie-sized portion of trials he's received are somehow for his own good.

Until then, he is trying to stay positive.

"Everyone says good luck. They tell me to get a job and keep busy," Sean said. "People have given me advice but no one knows what it feels like."

When -- and it must be when, not if -- his back heals, he says he would love to do the things most people take for granted, like swing a bat again or take a hike.

Until then I asked if there is something I could do to help, but after a pause he said, "Nothing."

Maybe there is something. If teams perform so much better in front of their home crowd, then maybe Sean Broderick will make a comeback now that he's at home.

I hope those of you who know Sean and even those of you who don't, will join me in making him a sign, sending him a card, giving him a call, sending him an e-mail (through me) and letting him know the crowd his behind him and that we hope to make a difference.

We hope that one day he will get back to the top of his game.

Neil Warner can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it