Hi,gang.Long time,no see.I have been plowing snow for the great state of Ohio...Lots!
Lets just say that in the last 60 hours of my life,I plowed 40 of them...and that is just the last three days.
7 days a week seems to be the norm.Luckily,I like it,and I can store the time off as 'comp' time for a whole bunch of time off in the summer....yes,it is supposed to snow again tonight.
My brother,Carl,sent me this photo from two weekends ago.It was in the ol' hometown's newspaper in the Sunday's 'Remember When' section.
The year was 1974.I was a captain of the freshman wrestling squad.I am the one on the right.My fellow wrestling captain,Steve, is on the left and another wrestler,Darrell is in the middle.
This is one of the mats we had to practice on.My Dad was the president of the athletic booster's club.He came up with the idea of,'Owning A Piece Of The Mat'.We sold off square feet(divided into square inches)to anyone that would buy them.
The idea took off.We finally were able to purchase the new mat...but only after our home season was finished.The powers that be decided to hold an assembly so us team members could get a chance to use the mat by wrestling each other in front of the whole school.
Let's backtrack.Steve and I decided to have a one time wrestle off at the beginning of the year to see whom would wrestle 138 and 145.The loser(since we both weighed the same)would wrestle up.I lost.Maybe because I wanted to compete against heavier guys.Maybe because Steve was better.I don't know.
Steve and I both had great seasons.We each won our tournament.(It was a great year for my Dad;each of his four boys won a wrestling tournament).We each only lost one match.My lost,should have been a tie.I took my opponent down and while the referee was giving me two points,the guy switched me in a blink of an eye.The score keeper(we were wrestling away)never gave me my two points,so I lost,2-0.
Steve and I wrestled each other hard:no mercy;no quarter.May the best man win.
So,when we were matched up together for the 'display',I said to Steve,'We should tie'.He agreed-then immediately took me down and let me up.He was trying to kick my ass.I had to return it in kind.I ended up beating Steve in front of the school by one point.It was the high point of my season.
A high point that almost equalled Carl's.In 1974,Carl became the first wrestler from my hometown to go to'State' in wrestling in twenty two years!
It ended up being the high point of my wrestling career.
Through a series of unfortunate events(which I don't care to get into),I did not wrestle the next year.Steve,on the other hand,had a great season.He came in second in the State!Wow.It was just the beginning of a brilliant career for Steve.He would become State champ,be an All American in college,and end up coming back to our home town to coach our wrestling team all the way to becoming State champions!
I never wrestled again.
Some people consider that a great lost.But not me...to me,it only would have been a great lost if 'Steve' never would have wrestling again.
Well,I was going to get into the story of my first car,Nanky Poo..
...but that will have to wait for another day.
Take care,all.
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