~Knock Out

I like watching sports. No, not all sports, but some. I love (NFL) football. I like tennis, especially Women's tennis. (NHL) Hockey, I like. College basketball can be fun to watch. I love watching Rugby. I'm not into the soap opera part though. I often see professional sports as "soap operas for men". It's the same thing... many guys know the history and stats for the teams and players, the same way many women know the plot lines for the daytime dramas... and they really can get worked up about it all. For me, I like watching sports because the athletic prowess is impressive, and some sports can be very visually stimulating because of the brilliant colors.

Playing sports? No. Not since I was very young.

When I was young, I was a little jock. I was really good at baseball, swimming, and running long distance, and pretty ok at most sports I participated in. Then, there was a little episode at day camp.

There was this boy, David. One day, all the kids had to be indoors because of rain. A bunch of us were in the supply room being kids, and David punched a punching bag and was telling me how much it'd hurt. I didn't believe him. How much could it hurt to punch a punching bag? So, he dared me to punch it as hard as I could. It was a dare. Of course, I took the dare, and punched it... as hard as I could.

oops.

It wasn't a punching bag. It was a gymnastics horse turned on its side. I broke my hand.

So, I spent the summer in a cast. I was not happy. No sports for me, and even worse, they were trying to make me do Arts and Crafts, which was for girls, in my young opinion.

I did the Arts and Crafts. I wasn't a bad artist either, but it didn't make me feel too good. I had enough issues with my sex and gender. I just didn't need the blow to my male ego.

Because of it all, something started changing that, my 10th, summer. I had to find another way to assert my masculinity. I did find it. Punching things. Getting hurt. Being "bad". So, the potential "jock" ended up becoming a "bad boy". It worked for me.

Well... except for the arthritis, the misshapen hand, and a body covered in razor scars.