quest

the team met for the first time today. all the coaches were there. all the managers were there. all the veterans were there. all the newbies were there. tryouts in less than two weeks. i must say that i foresee great things from this mixture of experience and enthusiasm. i already have the lineup for opening day in mind. ok, so we don't quite have a starting pitcher just yet. or a backup catcher, in the unlikely event that our starting catcher goes down. and the 'personalities' on the squad are just as pronounced this year as they were last. but each new season brings forth hope that this will finally be the year. for me the team is the highlight of the academic year. each september, from the moment i first set foot inside the school, i eagerly await the budding signs of spring. i wonder if the girls sense my anxiety. at the vancouver olympics several canadian athletes who were heavily favoured to win claimed that the pressure to succeed made it impossible for them to prepare for their events. they claimed that they felt as though their journey to the olympics had been hijacked by the impossible demands of the nation. as a result they were forced to surrender ownership of their competitive spirit to the nameless and faceless residents of their native land. does my team want to win as badly as i do? and should i be concerned if they don't? after all it is just a game, isn't it? but i have learned a few things from my years as both player and coach. first and foremost amongst them is that winning breeds confidence. and confidence, i would propose, is the holy grail of adolescence. and so the quest begins.

"walt whitman once said, 'i see great things in baseball. it's our game, the american game. it will repair our losses and be a blessing to us.' you could look it up." - bull durham (1988)

in the beginning g-d created peter gabriel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMwn_hnoS5Y