I played a little football when I was in high school. From a purely objective perspective, I was a slightly-better-than-average player. But considering the fact that I competed with & against a disproportionately high percentage of Asian kids and future proctologists, I stood out a bit more than I otherwise should have. If I would have played for a public school, I definitely would have been more middle-of-the-pack.
I played a little bit of everything but mostly wide receiver and strong safety (for the sake of the girlies in the audience, that's the guy who catches the ball and the guy that hits the guy that catches the ball). I was kind of a total dick once I got on the football field, talking a LOT of trash and committing the occasional personal foul (not a lot of risk involved considering, as I said, that I was playing against mostly Japanese and Sri Lankan kids). I don't know what brought it out, but I just seemed to have a lot more anger on the field than I did off of it.
I also punted, although I absolutely hated it. I thinks it's the least manliest role on the entire team. At least the field goal kicker got to score points. I just got to stand back there and pray that Sumir could block the guy coming off the edge. But unlike my receiver and safety abilities, it was my punting skills that got me scholarship offers.
Well, actually it was only ONE scholarship offer. To Oregon State.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Fightin' Beavers, Oregon State wasn't a very good football team back then. From 1976 through 1996, they averaged about 2 victories per year (mostly against nursing schools and smaller community colleges). So it wasn't exactly a prestigious honor, but I was looking forward to it nonetheless.
The OSU campus is in Corvallis. It's really a beautiful place, close to both the mountains and the Pacific, and just far enough away from home. I grew up out west but when to high school in a place about as mountainous as Topeka, Kansas so it was going to be good to get back in my element.
National Letter of Intent Day was in late January.
I was playing a game of pickup football in late December. I caught a pass, planted my left foot in the mud and POP! My anterior cruciate ligament got jiggy wit it.
It wasn't like it is today, when an ACL tear is a very recoverable injury. Back then it meant that you were done. And I was. Scholarship offer rescinded. Dreams of getting my ass handed to me by UCLA gone in an instant.
So this is the t-shirt I was given by one of OSU's assistant coaches before I became an invalid. It's now 18+ years old and gets worn under black v-neck sweaters whenever I'm feeling saucy.
Whenever I put it on, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if my foot had just landed 3 inches to the left. Or if Baxter had thrown the ball to somebody else. Or if I'd just slept in that Saturday. Not so much that I didn't get to play football again, but rather the people I would have (and wouldn't have) met, the places I would have (and wouldn't have) been and how different my life would have been in general.
I had no chance of playing anything other than 3rd string for a shitty football team, but sometimes it just makes you wonder.
