My athletic career in a nutshell.

On weekends when I was in elementary school some guys would show up at the football field and have a scrimmage. One of my friends ask me to show up one weekend, so I did. I got picked last being the runt of the group. On the very first kickoff the guy in front of me caught the ball. He turned around and lateraled it to me and said follow him. So I got right behind him. At some point he cut left and I cut right and from the opposing team the biggest meanest looking kid I had ever saw named Tommy was coming right at me. He would have squashed me like a bug.Well rather than have him turn me into something similar to a bug on a windshield, I instinctively tossed him the ball at which time he had a wide open field for his team to score a touchdown. This was the end of my football career.

Then there was baseball.

Being on the smaller side of the stature meter held me back in a few areas, one being sports. I only played one year of baseball (pee wee league), I think I was 5 0r 6 years old. The big draft day arrived and we all showed up anxious, nervous and excited all at the same time. There was a designated number of teams and players set up ahead of time. The coaches drew numbers as to who would choose 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc..... and the games began. Each team that would come up I would actually imagine them calling my name. One after another chose their teams and I was running out of time. Finally the last player was picked and I still sat there with the other left over players. They said thanks for coming out and that was that. I was so depressed. The fact that I was 4 foot tall and weighed about 60 lbs didn't seem to matter. Case closed right? Not so fast. Over the weekend they decided there were enough left over players to form one more team. So they voted on it and just like that the "Colts" were created. The coach was going to be Mr. Barnett. He was the maintenance guy for the school busses. I don't know if he had ever coached before but he was all we had. So here was our team.

Now you can imagine what our team looked liked. The guys that no other team would pick. So we had our work set out for us. Before now I had not played much, mainly because I didn't have a glove, ball, bat. Things you kind of needed to play. So my dad took me to a place called "The Coastal Salvage" that sold just about anything you were looking for. They had one glove. Not just any glove. It was a glove that was between a a catchers mitt and regular glove with five fingers. You put your thumb and first finger in the first slots and the third fourth and fifth finger in the second slots.

I had never seen a glove like it but it only cost a dollar, so my dad bought it.

 Apparently no other player had seen one either, because at our first practice, everyone, including the coach ask me what kind of glove was that? As if I wasn't insecure enough already.

During warmups I couldn't catch anything with that thing. It was so embarrassing. I told them since it was new that I would have to break it in. I couldn't hit the ball either. Struck out every time. I did walk once and the guy behind me hit a home run. That was the only score I made all season. I was the worst baseball player ever except for this one kid who had glasses as think as a milk bottle. I don't think he even wanted to be there.

Coach decided to put me in right field. Wayyyy out in right field. Except this one game when he was short a player and coach put me on second base. At one point, this batter hit a line drive right at me. Out of fear I stuck my glove in front of my face and somehow it stuck in my glove. The guy was out. This was the pinnicle of my career.

I was so glad when that last game rolled around. We never won a game all season. But I had played a season of baseball. And I never wlll forget Mr Barnett. He never gave up on us.