Live the year with thankfulness, gratitude, respect, patience, charity, and kindness; don’t forget to laugh and smile often, as they are infectious.
Over the years, I tried my hand at many sports, but since my earliest years in grade school, my passion has been baseball and football. It was always about giving your best, making friendships, and the camaraderie of sharing the agony of defeat and the joys of victory.
In grade school at Most Blessed Sacrament in Southwest Philly (now closed). I played on teams that won some championships while learning the sport mostly from the bench for three years with the Bisons, then a few losing years with the Warriors, and then my moment of fame (LOL) in 6th grade, winning the championship playing for the Falcons vs. the Lancers. I might add that in 5th and 6th grade, our JV football team won the championships both years, beating Good Shepherd and, I believe, St. Barnabas, respectively. Yeah! They were the wonder years.
We would move from the city halfway through 7th grade to Drexel Hill. I gave up playing organized baseball (a regret) and focused on playing football. I played one year for St. Andrews, 1 year for the Drexel Hill Falcons, and two years for the Upper Darby Royals. It was on Thanksgiving Day of my senior year when I sustained a pretty serious knee injury, ending my thoughts of playing in college. In the words of my Orthopedic Doctor, “What do you think about golf, and do you play?” NO!
I admit I did try it for a few years, and anyone who can hit a baseball a country mile probably also found it a frustrating sport. I agree with comic Robin Williams when he said in his best Scottish voice, “I’ve invented a game where you take this little ball and hit it with a stick into a not much bigger hole!” Me- Hmmm! That doesn’t sound very hard!” Him – No! not just any hole; the hole is 5 to 6 hundred yards away, around ponds, trees, sand traps, and you only get 5 shots to make what I call Par! Of course, there will be shorter holes, maybe 3 to 4 hundred yards to the hole, then you get 3 or 4 shots to make par!”
Point to Ponder: I have always believed that getting involved in organized sports or simply making friends to play pick-up games—whether it’s basketball, two-touch football, baseball, soccer, or any other activity you enjoy—is important. It’s so much better to get outside and engage in these activities than to sit at home with a controller, shooting things on a TV screen. In addition to being healthier, it’s way more fun! So, as the saying on NIKE products goes: Just Do It!
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