Hometown Obligation

Last night at a family gathering there was a hockey game on TV. Our home town team was playing and of course we were cheering for them as loudly as we could. That got me to thinking, if you have a professional sports team in the town/city that you grow up in; does that mean you have to cheer for them?

It’s as though the fate of the team you cheer for has to be pre-determined. You don’t really get a say in the matter, you cheer for them by default. Is that really fair? In my particular case, I’ve cheered for my hometown team all my life…but I’m not sure why? It’s not like that are known for their defense, offense or goaltending; I’ve just always cheered for the, and don’t know why.

I don’t plan on becoming a fair-weather fan, but I just want to have the option to choose who I cheer for. I know it’s too late for me to switch who I cheer for as it’s tradition. But maybe we’ll let the kids decide who they want to cheer for in the future.

Knowing When to Stop

It happened on Sunday during out ‘A’ final game. A hard hit line drive was coming my way and dropping fast. I thought I could catch it (silly me); as soon as that ball hit the inside of my right ankle, I toppled to the ground like a ton of bricks.

The pain was so intense; I think it had a heartbeat all on its own. I needed a minute or two to get adjusted; two outfielders helped me to the bench. I can’t believe how much pain I was in, I decided to keep score so that I could try and distract myself from the pain. Needless to say that didn’t work and I immediately started to shake uncontrollably…which I now know was shock.

So after the game and winning the ‘A’ championship; I drove home…lifting my leg with my hands of course as I knew I was injured but I wasn’t sure to what extent. The next day in the hospital I thought maybe it would be ok and it was just badly bruised…on a side note the only reason I was at the hospital was because I couldn’t put any weight on it all day. After some x-rays it was determined that there were NO breaks, thank god! But the smallest piece of bone on the front of my tibia had started to flake off…luckily it was still attached but it looked like a cat’s claw just hanging there. Despite my protests and promise to stay off of it (like that would happen); the doctor put a plaster cast on me. I had to wear it for 2 weeks and then we’d see about a walking cast.

So as I sit here staring at my casted leg, I think it was the universe’s way of telling me to slow down as I was just starting a course, working full time, still playing ball and getting ready for Halloween…that’s not even including the time I devote to my family, friends and specifically my mom. (which is a lot) I stared at the black plastered cast that I had requested and thought “…maybe I should slow down and focus on what’s going on right now in my life.”

It’s weird how things happen that you realize afterwards why it did happen. For me having the cast on my leg really helped me to get some outstanding work projects out of the way. Plus I was able to focus on the course that I was taking, I’d actually been dreading taking this class but because I was able to focus on it, it wasn’t that bad. So despite me being house bound for a month; I got a lot done and am thankful every day that it was only a tiny chip and not a break.