The Sport That I Love(d)

Anyone that knows me knows that I absolutely love sports. I'll watch just about any sporting event, anytime, as long as there's beer (jk). Having been an athlete myself for many years there's nothing that i like more than a little friendly, or unfriendly, competition. Like millions of other kids i played every sport imaginable growing up from Tee ball, soccer, flag football, softball, baseball, etc. My parents pretty much put me in every sport that would keep me out of their hair but i didn't mind because I absolutely loved it. After dabbling in different sports, i settled on running track. Well, I wouldn't say I settled, I was damn good at it. Now when you're a little kid, sports are all about fun and games and hanging out with your friends. As you get older you either practice a good work ethic or you get left behind. For me, working hard at track practice everyday was still fun and games because I loved to win and I absolutely hated to lose. I left it all out there on the track like many other kids did. So i busted my ass for years even in the off season all the way through middle school and high school, working out by myself, on the weekends, I was never much of a team player anyway so I didn't mind. After the highs and lows of my high school career I moved on to college, Division 1A Track and Field. I have to admit it was intimidating at first. Besides, having to balance all my obligations was pretty taxing. After two years something that I never even crossed my mind occurred, my Track career came to an end. Things didn't quite go as planned following a season ending injury my freshman year, a mediocre indoor season, and nagging injuries the next year. I fell into relative obscurity on the team, a spot on the roster that I had never seen before, I was a Track Star not a scrub or a bench warmer. Riding the bike, doing physical therapy while watching my teammates running around the track, training their muscles, disciplining their bodies. I stood on the sidelines every weekend cheering them on instead of getting in the zone, stepping on the track myself, hearing and feeling nothing in the starting blocks except the pounding of your heart and the sound of the starter's pistol. It was time to make the toughest decision that I had ever made... was it was time to hang up my spikes? For nearly two decades i had walked, talked, ate, and slept track and field. How was I supposed to be content with cheering from the stands or the in-field? The summer preceding my Junior year I made the decision. After some sleepless nights, long conversations with the people that knew me best I couldn't avoid the realization any longer I was finished, my college track career was over before it even started, so it seemed. I felt like a quitter, like i hadn't tried hard enough, pushed hard enough. So I was relegated to being a fan, a cheerleader of sorts and it hurt like hell. I have to admit it kinda still does. Every athlete dreams of being among the elite in their sport, standing on that podium in the Olympics, breaking the tape at the World Championships. And all at once the realization that those things weren't in my future came crashing down. So now I have a love/hate relationship with the sport. I don't regret one minute that I dedicated to it. I don't even regret the possible state championship i gave up in high school to help out my team mates with a relay, that could've helped them realize their dream of a state championship. Okay maybe i do regret that one because I'm still a little peeved about how that went down. (Another story for another time, maybe like never!) I don't regret any of the workouts that kicked my ass, from running up the ski slope ;-) to the days Scottie too Hottie (Coach) was pissed off and we heard those dreaded words "Get on the line!". I made some of the best friends that I've ever had or ever will have and I think it honestly made me a better person.

What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.
~ Joe Paterno

Sport is where an entire life can be compressed into a few hours, where the emotions of a lifetime can be felt on an acre or two of ground, where a person can suffer and die and rise again on six miles of trails through a New York City park. Sport is a theater where sinner can turn saint and a common man become an uncommon hero, where the past and the future can fuse with the present. Sport is singularly able to give us peak experiences where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential.
~George A. Sheehan