Saturday the day of my alumni football game finally arrived. So powerful were my nerves, I actually woke up about 10 times before getting up for good. Because I am stupid, I had mini-burgers and fries for breakfast, following up that garbage meal with pizza for lunch. I drove in for one final walkthrough at 2, then we broke. I realized I needed more food, so a bunch of us went to Tat’s and I topped my nutritional nightmare w/ a salad w/ about two handfuls of cheese and spaghetti w/ meatballs. At least I didn’t drink beer (they didn’t serve beer, thank God, or I probably would have).
Back at the HS, I had to get equipment. My huge melon and virtual mullet barely fit into a large, but I got it. I also hadn’t worn a cup in quite a while, so that was a hoot. Mushing my junk into support shorts and a plastic banana was quite the life experience, but it beats getting a cleat in the jumblies. I went out to the field for a look. It was weird, b/c I had never actually been there. They built the school and field after I graduated. Nothing like defending the “home” turf.
The pregame involved me snapping (the other emergency center forgot to come out for pregame activities until half over). My hand began to ache after about 40 snaps due to arthritis from punching a lot of things. The other linemen came out and for the first time since my freshmen year in college (Fall 1997), we did some hitting drills. My technique was a little off, but so was everyone else’s. Finally it was go time. We had to line up on the 40’s facing the John Glenn Fighting Muskies. They introduced us w/ year of graduation, number and name. I, of course, did the double hand motion for the championship belt b/c I am a huge douche. I felt better, though, when they announced the oldest player on the field was our backup guard, a 1984 grad. Mid-40’s? Maybe 32 is not so bad, after all. Now for the game…
