I Ain’t As Good As I Once Was


36, Day 82 (Written Saturday March 3) ~ Today I did something that I haven’t done in quite awhile. I played backyard football. My family went on a family retreat to Camp Meribah in Centerville, TN with the Pulaski Street Church of Christ. After our devo’s, we played a game of combat jump 21 basketball, which I bowed out of because I didn’t want a broken nose or sprained ankle, and then we played backyard football. The youngest was my son Kase (14) and the oldest, I believe was my favorite preacher Lonnie Jones (50+?). In between were plenty of young, healthy, fast, strong, athletic young men and several over the hill, desk job, 40 pounds overweight dads like me.
I was the 3rd to the last pick (did I mention that my two sons were captains?), but there was a time when I would have been the first pick taken hands down. That was a long time ago. Back in Green Acres subdivision I was Dan Marino, Walter Peyton, Jerry Rice and Lawrence Taylor all wrapped up in one. We played full tackle football in those days and I was a force to be reckoned with, delivering punishing hits, throwing pinpoint precise passes and scoring touchdowns at will as I left a trail of defenders steamrolled or juked out of their shoes. At least that’s how I remember it.
Today was a little different. I didn’t dominate the game, but I played very well. I scored a few touchdowns and never let a guy I was covering catch a pass, but I also fell flat on my face trying to sack the quarterback and can already feel the stiffening and soreness beginning to creep in. But I had so much fun. It felt just like it did when I was a kid, only my body just would not do some of the things that my athletic brain was telling it to do. You want to know the best part.........I didn’t get hurt!

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