*Disclaimer - Just...don't read.

5 summers. 5 summers spent playing this great Chinese Christian rip-off of America's great pasttime (baseball), softball. Where not only do we complicate matters by putting in extra players, we shorten the distance between bases, and have AT BEST, mediocre umpires. 5 summers. That is, 3 summers spent looking up to people better at this game than me, as well as looking up to plenty of softballs flying over my head while muttering "oh crap". All while my teammates are wondering "how did they figure out he was the weak link so quickly?" And 2 summers spent shining as the perenial all-star ruck-a-teer (cuz i cause ruckuses...its what i do)

5 summers. I am now faced with a problem.
What the heck do I watch Thursday nights at 8/7 central? I mean OC/Survivor/Joey/Smallville/Alias? How does one choose? Would somebody get me a five-sided die? Please?

Wait, how did I get here? Right, through 5 summers of playing softball in Jr's.
Am I ready to take the next big step?

One the one hand I could move up, a move I contemplated doing this year. Play slightly more competitively. Hang with people more my age. Not being the center of attention as the guy who randomly yells things while playing center field. I might even be able to weasel out of being a pitcher, thus ending the bounty put out by softballs all across the world on my ... "goods". And I'd probably see a lot more of my pals I have outside of church (...thats a lie I have no pals). I mean, I have pretty much done it all. Been on a team that's won all its games, been on a team that's lost all its games, I've reeled in my fair share of hardware, and I have instigated a-plenty of waterfights.

On the other hand, I could go back to my Jr's. I mean we're just growing together, and I think we would have a great chance next year. In fact when we see the Seraphs in the finals next year, I would dare to say

.... wait for it

... it's coming, I promise

... have you been watching Arrested Development?

.. it's a funny show

WE COULD TAKE THEM.

Hm. Was my whole post based around the fact that I just wanted to get that out? That, as Mister Chau would say, our NY teams are not indeed stacked one way? Did I just play the underdog card the whole year so that we'd creep up on people? Possibly. Am I really going anywhere with this post? Not likely.

I think I'm just at a loss for words due to the fact that I may have strapped on my glove as a Jr softball player for the last time. What is this...water running down my face? My EYE! It's LEAKING! ARGH!

Then again, now that I may have pissed off the entire Jr league by insinuating that my team would make the finals THE NEXT YEAR, and then further insinuating that we would take the beloved seraphs and crush them, I may just have to walk-the-walk next year.

You know, there comes a point in time where you have to release that little boy that is inside of you. I think I may have done that after the softball game last weekend. I have been eating a lot less this past week.