FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Blame it on the beer, but I'm gonna pull an RUGator and get personal this post (that and I don't like American Idol which is the only programming on TV right now). 

Throughout my life, I look back at my sports "career" and shake my head.

Soccer was my first sport I ever played in preschool. Now that I think about it, my Mexican mother probably had more influence on that decision than I originally thought.  I remember playing goalie once, and I free kicked it to a kid that was in the far back of the pack. I actually kicked the ball too well, and it landed right into the kid's gut.  I felt bad for that even though I shouldn't have.  I forget why I actually didn't play soccer beyond 6 years of age. Oh wait, I didn't like how a huge pack would converge around the ball like a pack of hyienas over an abandonned zebra carcas. That's why I liked playing goalie; I would only have to concentrate on the ball when it was close which was rare.

Next on the list was little league baseball.  I enjoyed baseball much more: standing still or sitting around the whole game is a sport that suits me.  I was actually good at baseball.  I made the travelling all-star team on a consistent basis. 'Why would you ever stop playing baseball then' you might ask? Good question; I stopped b/c the last team I played on was coached by a son's coach.  That's the guy who always bats his kid first regardless of his ability to hit or get on base. I was always lead-off hitter until that guy coached me, and my nick-name was "Mr. Contact" the year before b/c I could make contact with any pitch thrown to me.  I hit an out of the park homerun that season (which is very very rare for a 12 year-old), but I went into a horrible slump later that season. I was far too discouraged to get out of my funk.  I should've stuck with baseball b/c I probably would've come out of the slump, but I was far too sensitive to stick with it. I actually saw the coach's son on the travelling team after the in-park all-star practice, and it just drove me up the wall.  The catcher on my team who was also a grade-school friend called me up to get me to come to the in-park game, but I was far too emotional to return. 

I then chose football as my next sport. I played the position that my tall lanky body was designed for: wide receiver.  Heck, I played wide receiver my whole life on the playground, so how different could it be?  If only I had known that receivers don't catch in middleschool and JV; receivers block for all of the running that RB's, FB's, and occaisionally QB's do. The only passing play we had was called 44-pop to the TE.  My 8th grade coach actually had us running the option, but our coach called it the sweep play that the QB could keep.  I did not play football since I was 6, so I was not automatically the starter.  I was actually 3rd or 4th string at certain points.  I would go home from practice and feel completely energetic b/c I didn't even practice, and that killed me inside.  I would turn to "My Friends" from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' album "One Hot Minute" every day after practice.  It was melancholy enough for me.  I spent countless hours on the sideline in practice.  I remember seeing the first team offense come off of the field in a game, and one or two guys would go in to replace him.  I quit football b/c I did not play football in the first place, so there was no reason for me to be there.

I should've stuck with either of those two games, but what's done is done... or is it?

I then turned to cross country.  I still enjoy running on trails and long distances.  I was not very good at cross country b/c my body is too injury prone.  When I kept running in college to prepare for the Peachtree Road Race, I figured out that my body was even less durable than in high school b/c I ran 5/7 days a week and my legs fell apart on me. I should've stuck with my cross country team and learned how to tough it out, but I was too distracted by the ladies of chorus.

 Which bring me to my next point, I am or was on a flag football team.  My team had not been together a year yet (most teams are together for years and made up of 20-something year-olds).  I met the team through a co-worker.  The guys are made up seven 30+ year old guys who are obviously older than the other teams. Two of them are very quick, but the others have a belly on them [which is not exactly the best physique for flag-football].  The two quick guys are our QB's, and they love to say, "Ok, you [points at the guy] get open." The defense resembles a  confused looking man/zone that stays the same the whole game.  We did alright with that kind of offense our first season with a .500 season, but we recently joined a league that was much more serious, and we would be whooped every game. We scored 4 touchdowns the entire 7-game season.  Half-way through the season, I created a bunch of offensive and some defensive plays and e-mailed them to everyone. [For the record, the leagues we played in were 7 man teams which is harder to plan for defensively b/c everyone is an eligible receiver.]  I was resolute to quit the team if I tried to improve us and no one was willing to try something different to win.  I got mixed results from eveyone, and we did not even practice any of my plays before the next game.  Instead, the QB created about 4 of his own plays, and we did not have an offensive game plan after the first four plays of the game. For the record, the third play was a pass to me, but he underthrew me horribly, and it was a pick-6.  I then skimmed the playbook down to 13 plays. I actually printed the plays  and laminated them, and we practiced a few of the plays before our next game.  Our first Qb wasn't at the game that week, and our second QB practiced the plays with everyone, but he did not know how to read defenses. He actually asked me who he should throw it to like I could tell him one guy, but I pointed out that he had 4 receivers and should throw to whoever is open. We lost that game too, but we actually drove the ball with a replacement player who was a QB in highschool and could actually read a defense.  The next game, our original QB came back in, and he reverted back to the "you get open" method which did not yield good results.  I suggested we run the play called "line left" which he created that was on my laminated sheet, but he was oblivious as to which play I was talking about. I was very disparaged after getting whomped the last game of the season.  I just got out of there b/c I did not even want to talk about anything b/c I was so mad.  The QB's never throw to me too even though I find myself open more often than not.  I play center/offensive line which is not a great idea for a guy who is 6'3" and 180lb.  For some reason, they just don't want to throw it to me.  The last game we played, one of the other team's guys told me that he thought the QB was gonna throw to me b/c I was wide open. The QB was looking my ways, but he pump-faked it and ran it for a 1 yd. gain. I've gotten about 4 passes thrown my way all season, and 3 of those passes were not catchable (I caught the other pass for the record). My team has a hard time fielding all 7 guys each game too.

Now the question I pose to you Fannationners: should I stick with my current flag-football team?  There is another league openning up for the summer at the first place we played.  I told myself that I would quit if they did not every try to make more of an attempt to win in a compeditive league, but I don't want this to become another sports regret. I could always try to make my own team.  I'm leaning towards quitting, but I've done that my whole life. What do you think I should do? Yes, you.