My sports background

When I was growing up I preferred solo sports, such as hiking, bird watching, and so forth. I loved football, though, because that was part of being loyal to my school, and cheering them on. I got one of those little pocket guides for teaching football basics to girls, and learned the rules quickly. In college I'd quarterback in impromptu dorm hall way games. But in high school I really loved wrestling, cheering the boys' team on. I loved it because I had friends who wrestled, and also appreciated the individual matches, each so exciting, and then being totaled together for an overall win. One of my wrestling friends who taught me how to fall and roll actually saved me from a horse riding injury several years later, because I instinctively rolled when I was thrown by an overly wired polo pony (and this was in the days when schools did not provide good helmets!) In high school I first learned about lacrosse. I had a big time crush on my science teacher and he was the lacrosse coach. So when I went to college I joined the women's lacrosse team. I'm not much of a runner but am great in defense, so I went for the goalie position.

Now in those days, women coaches were not real coaches. They were often just some dame who taught somewhere else and also took on the coach responsibility. So I learned my lacrosse from male friends of mine who either played on their team (thank you Randy!) or who were high school or college classmates of mine who would work with me (thank you Dennis!) However, the stupidity of the coaching drove me crazy, and eventually off the team. For example, I developed shin splits (which I still suffer from) because of outrageously irresponsible training. The loose discipline was dangerous. I was actually hit in the throat by someone in my own team during practice as she ran right into the crease (the boundary line around the goal that protects the goalie from being in a boxing match.) So just as I was about to play more games (being the junior goalie) I quit, rather than be further wrecked. I liked hockey and football for a while, again because they were my college's prime sports (though they weren't so great.)

During those years I followed baseball and race car driving not on a team basis, but by being fond of individual players. I would root for players, sometimes without remembering which teams they were on, ha. That changed in 1986 when I was working in Manhattan, when NYC and Boston were totally absorbed by the World Series Mets vs. Red Sox. We had a TV and would watch the games. And coincidentally I was scheduled to be in Boston on business for the last two games.

While watching TV with my friends and coworkers early in the Series, I one day loudly asked, "When does the defensive team come on?" I still laugh thinking of the shocked expressions. A dear friend, one of my managers, Jack, grabbed me by the elbow and hustled me to the side. He hissed in a kind way, if you can imagine that, "It's the same team, each player has an offense and defense position!" Ha ha ha, that was so funny. Like I said, I followed how players were doing, without focusing on the team (or little things like rules, and certainly not stats ha ha!) Anyway, from that Series on I developed my love for the game itself, though I'm still very fickle about teams! Being without a TV I listen to the games on XM radio and am glad that I am adept enough that I can visualize the plays very clearly.

Hey, while I've been typing, there's a rain delay in the Yankees-Mets game!!