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The Fresh Scent of Change...
Every season bears witness to new faces, new teams, and sometimes a new commitment. Too bad this doesn't apply to a new body! Somehow, though, a fresh start can be very rejuvenating, bringing an almost adolescent energy to most everyone's legs. This is part of the excitement in softball, an annual rite of spring. Men seem to understand this feeling more than women, probably because they so identify with it in making a common bond with other men. Women seem to communicate with words to form their connections with each other; a man chooses to speak physically, his body an instrument for creating silent action signals, signals that other men interpret pointedly with phrases like "good play," "nice move," "you're the man" -- or otherwise spew a series of boys-being-boys wisecracks in his direction after a missed play opportunity, much to the playmaker's derision, making him want to crawl under a rock or shrivel up like an under-watered daisy. If someone had a poor season last year, at least in his own mind, he can now come out of the gate at this time of year with renewed vigor, as he tests his body, mind, and spirit against new competition, new acquaintances -- new personal resolve. This is the essence of sport, the potent elixir that remedies a man's ills with quick results. He has only to get out on the field to forget his troubles for a while, to put job, relationships, and worrisome daily expectations on the back-burner for a short time. Men such as this know that Life is sport, and sport is Life; the two are virtually inseparable. Next time there is a chance, try watching a player who comes to the game and gets out of his vehicle just after finishing a long day at work; it's almost as if he changes instantly into the wide-eyed kid he once was. For a time, maybe just in the hour or so it takes to play a ballgame, he really is that young boy, old leather glove dangling from his hand, bat-bag on his shoulder, and Life is wonderful once again.
Enjoy the new season, everyone. Make it the best your lives have ever experienced. Remember that boy you once were and play with a young heart and spirit. I really can't think of anything better, except maybe looking forward to the next game...or next season!
(This article has appeared annually for several years now from our Heavy Metal Softball team archives. It is reprinted here to always serve as a reminder of what it is really all about -- lest we forget in the heat of competition that we are all essentially the same and that sport can be a great vehicle to bring out the best of who we are as human beings.)
Every season bears witness to new faces, new teams, and sometimes a new commitment. Too bad this doesn't apply to a new body! Somehow, though, a fresh start can be very rejuvenating, bringing an almost adolescent energy to most everyone's legs. This is part of the excitement in softball, an annual rite of spring. Men seem to understand this feeling more than women, probably because they so identify with it in making a common bond with other men. Women seem to communicate with words to form their connections with each other; a man chooses to speak physically, his body an instrument for creating silent action signals, signals that other men interpret pointedly with phrases like "good play," "nice move," "you're the man" -- or otherwise spew a series of boys-being-boys wisecracks in his direction after a missed play opportunity, much to the playmaker's derision, making him want to crawl under a rock or shrivel up like an under-watered daisy. If someone had a poor season last year, at least in his own mind, he can now come out of the gate at this time of year with renewed vigor, as he tests his body, mind, and spirit against new competition, new acquaintances -- new personal resolve. This is the essence of sport, the potent elixir that remedies a man's ills with quick results. He has only to get out on the field to forget his troubles for a while, to put job, relationships, and worrisome daily expectations on the back-burner for a short time. Men such as this know that Life is sport, and sport is Life; the two are virtually inseparable. Next time there is a chance, try watching a player who comes to the game and gets out of his vehicle just after finishing a long day at work; it's almost as if he changes instantly into the wide-eyed kid he once was. For a time, maybe just in the hour or so it takes to play a ballgame, he really is that young boy, old leather glove dangling from his hand, bat-bag on his shoulder, and Life is wonderful once again.
Enjoy the new season, everyone. Make it the best your lives have ever experienced. Remember that boy you once were and play with a young heart and spirit. I really can't think of anything better, except maybe looking forward to the next game...or next season!
(This article has appeared annually for several years now from our Heavy Metal Softball team archives. It is reprinted here to always serve as a reminder of what it is really all about -- lest we forget in the heat of competition that we are all essentially the same and that sport can be a great vehicle to bring out the best of who we are as human beings.)
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