It was another day of middle school practice. We went through our stretches and our running. It was humid and everyone seemed to be on edge. For some reason it seemed to be be pick on Austin day who was once of our lineman. He was in a extremely sensitive mood and for some reason a slap on his butt was not appreciated or excepted by him on this particular practice date. Our team noticed this and continued to do it. Our coaches were even getting in on the fun as they laughed at his look of anger after every "ass slap." We continued this tell it all went down hill.
Austin got to a point were saliva started to spew out of his mouth like a raccoon with rabies. Most of the team stopped except for one of the other linemen who was not the smartest and was still getting a kick out of Austin's steam rolling out of his ear holes on his helmet. It was on a jog around the field when he finally snapped, and everyone knew it was only a matter of time. Austin quickly flipped the switched tackled the kid and started pounding on him. Why he chose to punch his face mask of his helmet I have not figured out to this day, but he did. The kid who made him snap laid on his back as Austin punched his face mask and cussed a storm up at him. He laughed as this all happened until Austin grabbed his face mask and started pounding his head on the ground. This is when the coaches finally broke it up.
Our coach with his high squeaky voice yelled at the two with anger as spit flied. They both rolled over and knew what was coming. Our coach sent them on the dreaded leaf run to the woods. This meant you had to run all the way across the farmers field to the woods and grab leaves off the tree and bring them back. They had to do this run twice together which made it even better. They were panting like dogs by the time we finished and our coach let us watch it all go down and lectured us to on treating teammates with respect, even after they got a crack out of it.
To this day we still share this story when we talk about football and get a great laugh out of it. These memories of sports when we were young and having fun are some of the greatest stories to share and laugh about. There isn't a time when I see Austin that I don't think about this time in our football past and chuckle about it as I am doing now.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Monday, October 20, 2014
Champions
The season was winding down. It was my last game as an Oriole in Cass City Little League. Our team had been successful all season and it had shown, we were in the championship. It was the day before the game and we were having our final practice before the big day. Everyone on the team was excited to see what the outcome would be. At this point in our lives it was the biggest game we had ever got a chance to play in and we wanted to make it count.
After a sleepless night, and a long day of school it was finally game day. It had been overcast all day and everyone was hoping we would be able to play the game. We got our uniforms on and took the field. I was the pitcher for the game against the Red Sox coached by one of my former coaches and playing against a long time teammate that got traded that year. At this time though it was all about winning. My dad being my coach and my cousin both gave me a pep talk before the game and I was ready. I pitched two scoreless innings before the rain came. We sat in the dugout waiting for it to pass, but it never did. The game got postponed tell tomorrow. At this point we were in a bind I wouldn't be able to pitch if we played tomorrow so we hoped for the rain to keep coming down.
The next day came I immediately woke up and ran to the window. The rain had not stopped all night and the chances for another delay was looking good. Later over the intercom at school they announced the game had been once again postponed to tomorrow. A sigh of relief came over me and I once again began to prepare myself for the next day. Another sleepless night and a long day at school had passed and it was game time once again. When I was warming up there coach watched with anticipation. Then I toed the rubber on the mound. He blew up. He argued that i couldn't pitch due to my pitch count, yet it was legal and he had to deal with it. I knew at this point we had won the intimidation factor of the game and mentally scored another run.
The game went on and it was the final inning. We were still up two to nothing when the final batter for there team came up. They had a running at first and the batter was my teammate from last year. I had to take a deep breath to calm my nerves before this happened. He was the best hitter in the league, and I was nervous. The first pitch was thrown and it was a strike. The rest of the pitches I threw were a blur. I just remember throwing the nastiest curve ball for strike three. The whole team charged the mound. That day ended in a picture a pitcher of me my dad and my cousin holding the trophy and throwing up some number ones. The picture still hangs in our garage today and brings back these great memories.
After a sleepless night, and a long day of school it was finally game day. It had been overcast all day and everyone was hoping we would be able to play the game. We got our uniforms on and took the field. I was the pitcher for the game against the Red Sox coached by one of my former coaches and playing against a long time teammate that got traded that year. At this time though it was all about winning. My dad being my coach and my cousin both gave me a pep talk before the game and I was ready. I pitched two scoreless innings before the rain came. We sat in the dugout waiting for it to pass, but it never did. The game got postponed tell tomorrow. At this point we were in a bind I wouldn't be able to pitch if we played tomorrow so we hoped for the rain to keep coming down.
The next day came I immediately woke up and ran to the window. The rain had not stopped all night and the chances for another delay was looking good. Later over the intercom at school they announced the game had been once again postponed to tomorrow. A sigh of relief came over me and I once again began to prepare myself for the next day. Another sleepless night and a long day at school had passed and it was game time once again. When I was warming up there coach watched with anticipation. Then I toed the rubber on the mound. He blew up. He argued that i couldn't pitch due to my pitch count, yet it was legal and he had to deal with it. I knew at this point we had won the intimidation factor of the game and mentally scored another run.
The game went on and it was the final inning. We were still up two to nothing when the final batter for there team came up. They had a running at first and the batter was my teammate from last year. I had to take a deep breath to calm my nerves before this happened. He was the best hitter in the league, and I was nervous. The first pitch was thrown and it was a strike. The rest of the pitches I threw were a blur. I just remember throwing the nastiest curve ball for strike three. The whole team charged the mound. That day ended in a picture a pitcher of me my dad and my cousin holding the trophy and throwing up some number ones. The picture still hangs in our garage today and brings back these great memories.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Riders On a Storm
I had just purchased my very first bike when my parents finally decided I was old enough to stray off on my own around town. My heart was racing with excitement when I heard this. I was the first of all my friends to be allowed to ride across Main Street. After my mom had told my friends mom she also allowed him to cross if he was with me. This was the beginning of an adventurous and memory filled summer.
Our first trip across Main Street led us a mile out of town to the Cass River. The river had a bike trail along it with trails leading to fishing holes. As we rode down the trail we ran into the "Simpson Boys." These were the kids in town who never had to check in with there parents, and there parents weren't worried where they were. We joined up with them and they showed us all the sweet jumps to hit with our bikes and the good spots to fish. We made plans for the next day to leave early in the morning to go fishing!
My friend and I rode our bikes to there house at 7 in the morning. It was trash day and the boys wanted to look around for some new bikes before we left. We rode around for about a half hour until we hit a pot of gold! Two bikes with baskets and a "Lance Armstrong" type bike sat on the side of the road along with a portable radio. We took all of it and threw the radio in the basket and hit play. It was a a light purple radio with one cassette inside it. The cassette only played one song, yet it was the perfect song. The radio crackled and struggled to come on. Then it played. Riders on a storm by the Doors. Looking back at it this had to look hilarious, a almost a picture perfect scene from a movie six kids riding around town with this song playing. We took off toward the river for our day of fishing, jamming the whole way there.
We did this for the rest of the summer everyday. Riders on a storm over and over. We could sing the song by heart by the end of the first week. We fished everyday, finding every fishing whole we could find on that river. Catching crawfish and boiling them in pop cans when we got hungry, so we did not have to leave to get food. Those days will stay in my memory forever. I can just picture us riding our bikes down that old dirt trail as the that song plays and we all sing it. The Simpson boys were not the best kids to hang out with, yet they are part of a great summer filled with life lessons and laughs.
Our first trip across Main Street led us a mile out of town to the Cass River. The river had a bike trail along it with trails leading to fishing holes. As we rode down the trail we ran into the "Simpson Boys." These were the kids in town who never had to check in with there parents, and there parents weren't worried where they were. We joined up with them and they showed us all the sweet jumps to hit with our bikes and the good spots to fish. We made plans for the next day to leave early in the morning to go fishing!
My friend and I rode our bikes to there house at 7 in the morning. It was trash day and the boys wanted to look around for some new bikes before we left. We rode around for about a half hour until we hit a pot of gold! Two bikes with baskets and a "Lance Armstrong" type bike sat on the side of the road along with a portable radio. We took all of it and threw the radio in the basket and hit play. It was a a light purple radio with one cassette inside it. The cassette only played one song, yet it was the perfect song. The radio crackled and struggled to come on. Then it played. Riders on a storm by the Doors. Looking back at it this had to look hilarious, a almost a picture perfect scene from a movie six kids riding around town with this song playing. We took off toward the river for our day of fishing, jamming the whole way there.
We did this for the rest of the summer everyday. Riders on a storm over and over. We could sing the song by heart by the end of the first week. We fished everyday, finding every fishing whole we could find on that river. Catching crawfish and boiling them in pop cans when we got hungry, so we did not have to leave to get food. Those days will stay in my memory forever. I can just picture us riding our bikes down that old dirt trail as the that song plays and we all sing it. The Simpson boys were not the best kids to hang out with, yet they are part of a great summer filled with life lessons and laughs.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
First party
High school had finally came and once again I was at the bottom of the totem pole. My legs trembled as I walked through the doors. All the stories you hear when your growing up about the big bad seniors, and how mean they are. Yet, my first day of school as a freshman was nothing like I ever expected. I found myself getting invited to a party. It was a senior that invited me to his house for the first party of the year.
My nerves ran wild. I wasn't sure if I should go or not. I wanted to go, yet wasn't sure if my best friend was invited or not. I slowly hinted towards the party to my friend. I didn't want to hurt his feelings if he didn't get invited. When he finally told me he was asked to go, we acted like little school girls getting asked out by the popular boy. We had the rest of the week to decide if we were going to go and what to tell our parents if we went. After the next day we made our decision that we were going to go. The week dragged. Until finally it was Friday night.
Our friend had all the hookups in town and got us our drinks. I had a twelve pack of Bud Light. My friend was drinking Faygo and Five-O'clock vodka, also known as a Down River Screw Driver. We got into the car to go for a long night of Xbox, so our parents thought. The house was on an old dirt road and a shed sat in the back. Cars already surrounded the garage and my friend and I were ready. We entered the shed, the music was loud people were having a great time and laughing. We quickly joined in on the fun.
Hours went by I was standing with a group of guys talking sports. My friend sat passed out on the seat of an old green John Deere. His head bobbed back and forth as he fell asleep. Just as he passed out lights swept across the driveway and somebody yelled cops. I ran over to my friend and said it one more time trying to wake him up. He woke up abruptly, and came crashing off the tractor. I ran over picked him up and through him over my shoulder. Just as I was doing this the garage do flung open and everyone went silent. Two college guys came walking in with more beer as we all sighed with relief. The party carried on and my friend went back to sleep on his John Deere. My first party was one to remember, and filled with many memories.
My nerves ran wild. I wasn't sure if I should go or not. I wanted to go, yet wasn't sure if my best friend was invited or not. I slowly hinted towards the party to my friend. I didn't want to hurt his feelings if he didn't get invited. When he finally told me he was asked to go, we acted like little school girls getting asked out by the popular boy. We had the rest of the week to decide if we were going to go and what to tell our parents if we went. After the next day we made our decision that we were going to go. The week dragged. Until finally it was Friday night.
Our friend had all the hookups in town and got us our drinks. I had a twelve pack of Bud Light. My friend was drinking Faygo and Five-O'clock vodka, also known as a Down River Screw Driver. We got into the car to go for a long night of Xbox, so our parents thought. The house was on an old dirt road and a shed sat in the back. Cars already surrounded the garage and my friend and I were ready. We entered the shed, the music was loud people were having a great time and laughing. We quickly joined in on the fun.
Hours went by I was standing with a group of guys talking sports. My friend sat passed out on the seat of an old green John Deere. His head bobbed back and forth as he fell asleep. Just as he passed out lights swept across the driveway and somebody yelled cops. I ran over to my friend and said it one more time trying to wake him up. He woke up abruptly, and came crashing off the tractor. I ran over picked him up and through him over my shoulder. Just as I was doing this the garage do flung open and everyone went silent. Two college guys came walking in with more beer as we all sighed with relief. The party carried on and my friend went back to sleep on his John Deere. My first party was one to remember, and filled with many memories.
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