"Football"

11/7/2010...A few words about the game of football. Lately there have been fines for certain types of hitting and hurting players. This has been going at least once a season for years. Players have been crippled for life and some have walked away OK but have never played again because of career ending hits…All sad but true. I have seen it many times. Players play because they want to and they know the risks very well. They get paid huge amounts money to endure the pain of the game and believe me there is plenty to endure. I don’t care what position you play, it literally takes a week to recover from the pain and stiffness of a game. The uniforms and protective equipment were designed in some cases for each individual player.This is a sport that most of these guys have trained their whole lives to play. From a very young age playing Midget football, High school through college they compete to get that prestigious job as a player in the National Football League. Take my word for it, its in all their minds and dreams. Some make it, most don’t. Its always that way, they pick the best of the best to play …The moral of the story here is they know the risks and they know the bottom line. They train with the best trainers and coaches with the best medical care and doctors. A $50,000 fine to you and me is devastating but to a player it’s a minor issue. That player will do a commercial for a beer company and make that back in a afternoon times ten…Its more of a warning than anything else. To who? I really don’t know. The commission has been doing this for as long as I remember. It will never stop because the integrity of the game will be lost.

"Dreams"

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be a player in any forum? Football, Baseball, Tennis, Soccer and to be put in a position to have the crowd in a home stadium cheer for your team and you? I would like to have done that just to feel the energy that comes from the crowd that surrounds you. I have been to Major league baseball and NFL football games and sitting in a crowded stadium cheering for the home team and I have felt it. Yesterday I was watching the playoffs and thought what if all eyes were on me and what it would feel like to have all that energy directed at me. Personally, I think it would be addicting…Would all those aches and pains you have when you got older be worth it? I watch these extraordinary athletes in excellent physical condition and I wish I could be younger just to compete. I played baseball and softball for fun for years but a guy always dreams about what it would be like if only.. What if I went to a different school and my grades were better? Maybe if my parents encouraged me more to practice and to try out for the team. Maybe if I wasn’t so interested in that cute cheerleader and studied more. Those little errors in judgment years ago that turned me down those side roads of life and let fate take control instead of allowing more creative thinking to guide me past the pitfalls of what I thought was fun. Those few beers with what I thought were friends was biggest mistake I ever made. That false sense of courage and bravado was all I needed to change the coarse of my life. Its so much worse now with the intensity of the drugs and the fruity disguises and flavors they put in the alcohol of today. It does the same thing. It corrupts the mind. It doesn’t take much to get a wishful thinking teen, hooked and started down the road of life unaware that it’s the road to bad decision making, pain and Hell. The moment a teen or young person takes that drug or drink their life expectancy shortens. All the careful living under their parents supervision and guidance is dissolved in a blend of booze and drugs. Some of the smarter and luckier ones will persevere but those with addictive personalities will succumb to the false momentary pleasure. Time will go on and it won’t take long to realize that you need to drink more or use more drugs to get the same high that you had not to long ago. That’s when you start to feel the guilt and to get rid of that you drink or use more. Later on in life but not too much later you will self-destruct. The cycle has begun. You know what I mean. That is moment you start to circle the drain…When I was a young man I took a test that a publisher sent me. .It had to do with writing an essay. I wrote it and sent it in. Low and behold a few weeks later two men in suits came to my house and wanted to sent me to school to be a writer and I didn’t do it. A few years later the U.S. Government came to me and wanted me to become an Air Traffic Controller. I didn’t do that. There were many decisions that I made that I wish I chose differently but there are no excuses. I just wish I had a clearer mind at the time and that would have let me make better choices and maybe have the time to think of a better future. Part of the answer is never be afraid to ask a responsible person. What if I ?
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