Boys and Their Games

I remember growing up in Northwest Omaha, the neighborhood I lived in was teeming with kids. A blue collar, semi Catholic neighborhood with kids from newborn to teens. I was seven when we moved to this part of town, and was somewhat heartbroken when I had to leave behind my two best buds (Trevor and Bill) from the Benson area. Little did I realize, the area of town we were moving to had so many kids living in it, that I was bound to find some new friends. In a 2 - 3 block radius, we had enough kids to play football, baseball, kick the can, hide and go seek in the dark, war, snowball fights, racing dirt bikes on a homemade trail on a vacant lot, and did I mention football?. Myself and another kid my age were about the two oldest on the block. I take that back. There were teenagers, but they were too busy smoking pot, and making out with one another. So then there was our age bracket, in which I was one of the oldest. So when it came time to square off and make up teams, I was usually a captain. Since my cousin lived four houses down the street from me, he was an automatic first round draft choice on my team. It didn't matter how good he was, blood is thicker than water, thus the first round status, along with the big paycheck. My main opponent, James, has a brother the same age as my cousin, so his first choice was also obvious. Then we started drafting for talent. There always seem to be one or two kids left over, so we had some replacements if someone needed a spell. The competition was fierce, and sometimes ended up with opposing players standing toe to toe, ready to go at it! And you thought that was only in professional sports. This was all at a time when there were no special training camps for kids interested in sports. We had leagues we could join, but no off season training for individuals who excelled. The street out in front of our house was the training camp. This is where all great athletes started, in the streets, vacant lots, playgrounds, frozen ponds, empty parking lots, wherever kids could find enough room to play a game. So last night, I had to tune in to the NFL draft to see where my new favorite football player was going to reside, and which team I would now have to root for. While watching Mr. Suh get drafted to the Detroit Lions, it took me back to my adolescent days playing in the street with my friends. I just got to thinking about selecting our teams and teammates, and things really haven't changed from the time we were kids, to the time a person is selected to play in the NFL. Sure, the pay is better, but picking your team is no different than sandlot ball. Little did I realize, I was not only playing backyard football to become a star someday, but being a captain was also training me to be a general manager.