...and Cinderella left the ball

FITNESS, FITNESS ...

218.  Not gonna whine about it, but this is the month I get those 8 lbs off!  Better weather means I can run more, and that is the best way to burn calories!  Going to tighten up on the empty calories too.

New Balance ran some ad's during the basketball games, with the theme of love/hate relationship people have with running ... spot friggin' on ..!  My legs are sore from doing roadwork yesterday ... but it is on the schedule for today as well ... sooo ...

Also, I have made an 'executive decision'.  The well-loved 'o'dark-thirty' runs will be a thing of the past when I move to Detroit ... 'Why?', you ask?  Well, I am surprised that you would!  IT'S DETROIT!  YOU RUN before the dawn in a chippy neighborhood!  There is a tee shirt sold around town with a faux bullet hole and the caption reads:  Welcome to Detroit, Sorry we missed you!

As it is, I am not all that cool with running during DAYLIGHT ... kidding, kind of!

WHY LITTLE BITTY SCHOOLS DON'T ...

Though I thought that this was a Kansas choke year, they sucked it up and beat Davison.  Now, I know it wasn't pretty, but they counted the made baskets and Kansas had more. 

Watching the game, Davison seemed to be writing the script.  Their star player had dropped a big three pointer to put them in range and they had the ball with a chance to tie or win.  And that is when I think the 'moment' caught up with them, as they ran their play not like a team ready for the final four, but a team that was thinking, 'Wait a minute, this is Kansas ... we're from Davison and we don't go around beating schools like Kansas!' 

They ended up getting a crap shot off, and they will be watching the final four at my place, eating pizza and drinking beer with me and the Mook's!  It reminded me of my days as an amateur boxer, going to tournaments and 'smokers' where outstate fighters or kids from the hinterlands of Michigan would be fighting.  I would walk up to a potential opponent and say things like, 'Where are you from?  Well, I am from Detroit, and as you know, guys from Detroit don't lose fights to guys from Niles, Michigan ... so get ready to take this beatin' and go back and bail some hay!'

Funny, I tell you, funny!

That is what happened to Davison.  Somewhere, doubt creeped into their minds, and they let the chance slip away.  But I don't feel sorry for them ... Davison is one of those secret 'Ivy League level' schools, like Oberlin in Ohio, or any other small, super exclusive, super smart school ... you don't work for kids from Davision ... they are so far removed from us, the guy you work for, well, the guy HE works for, works for a guy from Davison!

NEBRASKA TALES

I used to post on the 'AOL Black Voices' message boards.  They changed how they operated them, and I grew frustrated and stopped.  Nebraska says she picked up some of my posts there, so I am going to go with that.  I don't know how I found out she was from 'fly-over' land, but I did.  And some old ancient connection clicked.

Back in the day, Nebraska was a football POWERHOUSE.  I loved the way they played, running their offense out of the I-formation, letting you know what was coming and daring you to stop it.  Backs like Jarvis Redwine and I.M. Hipp were early idols of mine.  I had wanted to play in the Huskers home whites, because they reminded me of unfrosted strawberry pop tarts!

I also remember beating the life out of some cornfed cat from Nebraska.  Country strong, meaning he had no cuts, but could lift a truck.  But not only did he not have any cuts, he had no skills!  But he had plenty of heart, and I made sure to find that out!

After our match, we talked a little about where he was from. some place I can't recall.  He was a cool cat, and something made me put Nebraska on my list.  It further got cemented when I was stationed at the home of the Big Red One, Ft Riley.  We'd go to KC, and I remember running in to the 'farmer's daughters' from Nebraska, thinking they were in one of the world's great bazaar's ... man, this ain't no Paris, this is KANSAS CITY ..! (yeah, yeah, I know, KC is a great town, but this is a youthful Mark talkin')

But I held a fondness for Nebraska.  So whenever I found out she was from there, I decided I would make her my friend!

AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN

One of the things I have found is, it is rare for someone to like me straight away.  No worries as it is too late in the game for that.  I just play it.

I tend to run contrary to things, even if it is something I agree with or believe in, in open discussion.  I guess I like to have debate, and encourage views that are different from mine.  So no matter what was on the message boards, I am sure she was like, 'What is this cat thinking?'

Who emailed or IM'd who first doesn't matter, because I wanted her to like me.  Not to induce some torrid internet affair that would end in tradgedy, but just to like me.  At the time, I was single, and getting ready to stop my 'active pinging' for love.  That is why I say I 'grandfathered' her into my life, because we made a connection prior to me joining Spanky and Alfalfa in the 'He-Man Woman Haters Club'!

I was glad that we met, and that my Best Sister got a chance to see her.  She shook her head, and said, 'Same ol' Mark!'  I smiled.  Were we to magically get together, EVERYONE who ever knows me would look at her and not be surprised ... she LOOKS like the woman you would expect Mark to be with!

Now, I have tried to find women who were on a 'different platform' before.  Nixxie was, so was Pecan Sandie.  And that worked out, eh, sorta this, sorta that.  You know, like that casserole your neighborh made at the pot luck ... you ate it politely, didn't taste that bad, but no, you DIDN'T want the recipe!

SO I AM STICKING TO MY STRENGTHS

Okay.  So I like Nebraska.  If I ran into her, magically in Detroit. I would prolly faint dead away, because I would be like, 'I thought you lived in Nebraska!' SWOON!

When I came too, I would prolly try to track her down.  It could be something special ... didn't y'all hope for Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in 'Sleepless in Seattle'?  But the reality of that movie is, we NEVER FIND OUT.  Yet, by the both of them taking such a chance, it keeps hope in play ...

For me, that is what it is all about.  Hope.  Opportunity.  Having the ball with a chance to beat Kansas.  Even if you don't get the shot off, you WERE THERE and you had your destiny staring you in the face.  Can you ask for more?

Wow!  I don't think that you can.  If it was supposed to be more, then you would have had it.  Anyway, the little squirrel is tired of runnin' on that treadmill, so I am going to let him rest ..!

Enjoy La Bouche!