*LESSON* –>
“face opponent head-on”
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GENERALS (LEADERS IN BATTLE):
Quarterback (General)
Running Back (Field Marshal)
Lineman (Ground Troops)
Wide Receiver (Pilots)
(my father was a third-string quarterback for the ‘Columbia Lions’)
(his crowning achievement at ‘King’s College’)
(my first real position was ‘defensive tackle’)
(go figure)
(i’m starting to suspect that these elders continuously put me in these positions to intentionally humiliate me)
(as defensive tackle, i’d always try going to the left or right of the offensive tackle instead of facing him head-on)
(resulting in many embarrassing beratings from galbally during the games…)
(especially at a flemington game where we played the torescos)
(and the crowley clan was attending the game)
i competed as a football player for 8 long years…
(grade 5 to grade 12)
POP WARNER:
(summer 1994)
(just turned 10)
begins august 1…
(at the warren sports fields)
(watchung / warren / long hill)
i was initially pegged as a tight end / defensive tackle
“the indians (year 1)”
head coach charles harris
(a gritty young construction worker)
(with no children on the team)
i was petrified of assistant coach ned (“edward”?) galbally
(the rich waspy dad with the star player son)
(…til his eldest son ended up drunk driving his friend right into a tree)
i was always afraid that they’d throw my the ball…
(because i’d always drop the ball in practices)
(pete riccio (assistant assistant coach) from the sidelines: “can’t you catch??!”)
(i was also scared of him…)
(’til his son was permanently paralyzed in a wrestling match…)
they never ended up throwing the ball to me in a game…
(we finished a respectable 5-5)
“the indians (year 2)”
(the following fall i was moved to center)
(because of my late birthday, i remained on the indians while the others in my grade moved up to the “braves”)
(i had to cut weight to make the “90 pound” cutoff)
(which was always a stressful procedure as we weighed in before every game)
(head coach passaro referenced my abilities as a ‘utility man’)
(i would play any position asked of me)
(that just means i was an ‘ultra conformist’ then…which i don’t consider very admirable…)
The next year, I was slated to play quarterback
Then I returned midway through the season as an end
(I had broken my wrist during the summer)
in high school, i played tight end + defensive end
(they considered moving me to guard during 2001 season)
(my father fought vehemently against K-Bos to prevent the move)
(K-Bos gave me father a wake-up call: ‘your son is too small to be an Ivy League tight end’ / I was supposed to be the next Jared Mazzetta!)
Legends circulated of how the Hunterdon Central football team members bench press weights (always hovering somewhere tucked in the 400s)
They were the ‘other’ to aspire to (for me at least)
Young Retard Robo accused me of being ‘in love’ with Mike Carr and the Hunterdon Central mystique
I was slated as the starting tight end during my junior year of high school / I had a particularly good set of hands and had been catching every pass thrown my way in training camp that summer. That is, until double sessions…
our annual “turkey bowl” was a WH / bridgewater extravaganza
(basking ridge is the current thanksgiving day nemesis of WH)
*on the final down of my high school season, i jumped the gun and went offsides as a defensive end*
(in an away loss to bridgewater)
as i walked off the field, middle linebacker cody brenn was screaming in my ear…and freddy vitollo started telling everyone on the bus ride home that i’d told him that i “didn’t care” about the outcome of the game earlier in the week…
(it must’ve been a close game then…)
(i remember not feeling nervous about bassman throwing me the ball as a tight end)
(because by that time there was nothing to lose except perpetual pride)
(but he kept throwing to his go-to wide receiver ‘jay frank’)
(we didn’t make the ‘playoffs’)
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*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
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👈👈👈☜*“AMERICAN FOOTBALL”* ☞ 👉👉👉
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥