sad sec championship

well the game today didn't quite turn out the way i hoped. i was looking forward to having something to smile about after a bama win. so, i found something else to smile about. as i was watching FL get the win, i wished i could have seen the game in person. once you've experienced a big game, it's never the same again. i guess it's like your no longer a big game virgin. the year was 2004 and it was the biggest baseball game of my life. smcs vs. fyffe in fort payne. the AHSAA baseball playoffs. i had only heard of those in legend and now i was in the game. there's a nervousness about me before big games. i can't eat, i'm really nervous, and i'm analyzing everything. as the game draws closer, everything gets worse. once the game starts, all of that fades away, and it's instinct. you see, i was born to play baseball. there are plays in my life that i don't remember b/c it was all instinct. for instance, shades mtn. all star tournament, i was 13. starting shortstop for vestavia, and that was a big deal. we were playing hoover, i think. i can play any position on the baseball diamond. i wonder if anyone will ever recognize that? is it worth something? really? anyway, i'm most comfortable at short stop than anywhere else. that angle fits me like true religions. somehow i can tell by the way the batter's stance is where he is going to hit the ball. it's been that way ever since i took the position for the first time. so, the batter for hoover is up and i can tell he is fixing to hit it right at me and since i'd seen there batters hit at least once, i remember where their tendencies are. sure enough the ball is hit toward me, to my right, in b/w me and the third baseman. that's all i remember. i don't remember catching the ball or throwing it to second. i just know that's what happened. i went to my right, stabbed the ball off a hop. reaching all the way across my body. i turned, jumped in the air, and threw the ball to second base. why did i do that move? i saw it on sportscenter. my mom tells me i have the best griffey imitation ever. so, that's time in my life where instinct ran it's course. that was a pretty long tangent. before tonight's game i felt that same feeling i had before my first big playoff game. it's a feeling that i can't describe, but once you've played in a big game, you know the feeling. as i had this feeling, and it was about kickoff; my mind started to race. i thought about how most athletes are seen as cocky. who knows if that is really the case? i don't know them personally. maybe they are just confident? i just see guys putting themselves on national tv, playing their hearts out, and there has to be a loser. everyone knows that before the game starts. but these guys (athletes) do it week in and week out. they fail in front of people, are in tabloids and tmz.com in front of people. it takes a lot of love for the game and thick skin to do that.