Glory Days
Dan Shaughnessy, the Boston Globe sportswriter, wrote an interesting column the other day. He mentioned “the long goodbye.” He was walking around a track when he spotted an end-of-season high school baseball game, and it brought back memories.
He talked about how graduating high school seniors who play sports are probably wrapping up their athletic careers. Most won’t play team sports in college, and very few will make it to the pros. These kids have been going to practices and playing against other teams with the same group of friends for ten years or more—going all the way back to youth leagues.
So this is it, gang. This is probably the last time they’ll play team sports with their longtime friends. It’s the last time they’ll wear the team uniform and ride the school bus together. That story brought back memories of my own playing days.
I played youth sports in Holyoke as a kid. I only hit one home run in my entire baseball career. I corked it as an Elmwood Jet. It had nothing to do with power—we were playing at McNally Field in the Flats, and for some reason, the outfield was kind of slick—maybe industrial waste from a nearby factory. If the ball you hit rolled into those slick spots, it just kept on going as you rounded the bases.
Then there was the time I played basketball for Holyoke Catholic High School against our Springfield rivals, Cathedral High. Cathedral had a big gym and a big crowd that night. We were getting whomped, so the coach threw me in. I usually warmed the bench.
No sooner do I get in the game than I steal the ball from a Cathedral player and start running down the floor. The crowd started cheering. “Wow,” I thought, “I’m really popular in Springfield!” Nobody was guarding me or chasing me down the court. I banked the ball off the backboard and in. Two points!
Next thing I hear is the coach yelling, “O’Brien, you’re out!” As I hit the bench, he said, “Wrong hoop, jackass—you just scored for Cathedral.”
And so it goes. But hey—I’ve got my name in the Cathedral record books, bucko.
Keep your dukes up.
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