Yesterday afternoon was the company picnic for Travelers. I’d been talked by some of my business partners into playing on their flag football team. They were totally gung ho about it too. We had 3 practices and even bought t-shirts. After the first practice, I felt really good about the team. Almost all of the team had shown up and we mostly were just feeling each others abilities out. After the second practice, I began to see some problems. Only 1/2 of the team showed up. There was no one person in charge of the team. Everyone had a different idea of what plays we should run and how to do things. We did finally decide on some plays and a defensive strategy though. After the third practice, I knew things weren’t going very well for us. More people showed up and the “team” decided that we should ignore all the work we’d done the previous practice and come up with new ideas. There was more angst about who should do what. Somehow I’d even been placed at center on offense. It was not a sign that boded well for us.
Yesterday at 12:15 was our game. We did a little practicing again before the game and I found out that again our plays had been changed. There was more angst. When the game began though, we came together. Our team scored first and we were feeling good. Our opponents were playing at the same level we were and it was a pretty good game. I didn’t play very well on offense, but I did great at defense (more on that in a bit). The game had two halves, each being 11 minutes. The clock only stops during the last minute of each half. It was a FAST game. In the last 5 minutes of the second half the score was 7 to 6 with us leading. We threw an interception and it was run back for a touchdown. Awhile later we threw another interception which was run back for a touchdown. Game over man! Game over!
Before the second interception, we were still hopeful that we could come back. Here’s where I really am kicking myself. I was playing defense. I play loose so that I can gauge where the ball is going better. The QB moves to throw the ball and I anticipate where it’s going and move in between the ball and the receiver. Just as the ball is entering my hands, I take my eyes off the ball…and drop it. F. U. C. K.
I’ve over thought the whole thing in my head and what I think happened is that my mind still thinks I’m 18. When I was that young, my reflexes were good enough that I probably could have taken my eyes off the ball and still caught it, but not now. I’ve noticed this a few times in the past few years, but I haven’t really played enough sports to be able to “re-train” my brain. And so it is. We lost by a score of like 25 to 7. While I don’t feel responsible (2 interceptions…) I do feel that I could have turned the tide…if I had just caught the damn ball!
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