I’d like to try something a bit different. This is an Audience Participation Post. Once in a while, while speaking with friends, the subject of sports participation comes up. I sometimes ask about people’s most memorable sports-related story. It might be participatory, or as a fan. It might be a great triumph or the agony of defeat. Here are some examples…
My first round of golf in Florida was with my house painter at The Carolina Club in Margate. On the par 3 9th hole, I hit a high iron that landed and stuck 4 inches from the pin. I was going to get my first birdie. It
was a steamy August afternoon and before we could even get into our cart to head for the green, the skies opened up for a 20-minute deluge. When I eventually got to the green, my ball sat in an inch-and-a-half puddle of water with the top barely exposed. I tried to putt it, but all I did was soak my golf shoes.
One of my daughters was placed in the leadoff position for the championship game of her rec softball league. She went five for five with three singles and two doubles. I was a proud papa. Some years later when I brought it up to her, she said that she only remembered one thing from that day. She said that she was so nervous that she just decided to swing at the first pitch to get it over with and that she was lucky that the pitcher happened to throw it over the plate.
My other daughter was asked to bunt in a rec league softball game. She fouled the ball into her mouth and the force of the ball caused her braces to become embedded into her lip requiring a trip to the orthodontist.
I have a friend who was a very good high school pitcher. Even with his success, his best memory is snapping off a perfect curveball to an extremely powerful hitter with two strikes on him. He said the ball was less
than two inches off the plate when the batted reached down and golfed the ball some 450 feet, well beyond the outfield fence. He said it was memorable because everybody on the field including his teammates and coach simultaneously went “Ooooooh” and then burst out laughing.
I have a son-in-law who blew out his knee participating in college sports. Unfortunately, it happened while he was circling the court carrying a gigantic flag during a women’s basketball game. He also once received a purple-nurple from Shaq (see below)!
I would like my readers to read my “moment” on the Facebook thread associated with this blogpost. I would further ask you to provide your sports highlight in the thread. It should be fun. If you want to preserve your anonymity of don’t have Facebook access, email me, and I’ll share your story with no name. It would also help if you shared the post with your peeps to expand the fun (and of course, my blog).
Looking back, I was surprised to find that I had a surprising number of sports-related entries previously published herein. Feel free to check them out. Some are elegies, some are nostalgic, some are humorous and some are alleged art.
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/dave/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/i-be-doggin-rory-sparrow/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/time-warp/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2017/04/07/disk-golf/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/rounding-third-and-headed-for-hell/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2017/05/02/strangers-on-a-training-table/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2016/11/05/the-day-jesse-orosco-retired/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpre
ss.com/2015/11/18/mamas-dont-let-your-babies-grow-up-to-be-cowboy-fans/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2016/06/04/farewell-to-the-king-of-the-world/
https://thesmartestguyiknow.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/magic-is-watching/
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