2024, animals, Games, Gatherings, sports, Uncategorized

Team Goose

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As I was leaving the gym yesterday morning, there was a large group of geese walking away from the building.  I’m not sure why but all I could think of was a group of teenagers having just finished a quick basketball game at the gym, heading off for a burger and a pop. Made me laugh.

For a very short time in high school, I was on the track team.  Very short.  My trail leg didn’t quite clear a hurdle during practice and while it was a life-threatening injury, it was pretty gruesome and it ended my extremely short track career.  That was my only foray into team sports. 

What about you?  Any team sports for you?

43 thoughts on “Team Goose”

  1. I’m going to assume you meant to say your injury was NOT life threatening.
    I was in little league for a while. I pitched.
    When I was still in band I went to some football games in high school.
    Otherwise, no. Not as a player, not as a spectator..

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    1. I did spend a lot of time at recess playing softball during elementary school. Several boys in my class loved baseball and fantasized about being on the New York Yankees. I think the entire class fit, somehow, into their fantasy.

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  3. I played football ih HS and at a very low level, which in many ways I regret. But there is a tone that there is something wrong with TEAM sports. It was being on a team, practicing together, playing together, riding the bus together, that I now most remember fondly. We go to the Moondogs game. I can see that the players, who have come together from all across the country, have that feeling, too. They have built friendships, and share frustrations and joys. I can also tell they do not take the sport at this level very seriously and are enjoying each other and the experience. One of the teams has a manager who is over the top on gung-ho win-win-win. He is out on the field abvout ten times in every game. It is not the spirit of the league. We, my daughter s-i-l and I, enjoy the games for that. We applaud good play by both teams. I have always enjoyed the game itself. I no longer watch any sport above this level.

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    1. Moondogs used to play Wilmar and Rochester many times a year, which was fun. There was a rivalry and fun connection on the field and in the stands because fans could easily travel to other towns. Now we play the ND teams many times and only play Wilmar and Rochester four times, twice at each town.

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  4. Track. Half mile. Mile Medley Relay. Mile Relay. Quarter Mile. Our Mile Medley record time still stands…the event is no longer run! This was all pre-metric.

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  5. Husband was on the swim team. I was in music and speech, not sports.Women’s sports were just starting when I was a senior. Our Grade 5 neighbor girl is on a softball team, and was just at a weekend softball tournament in Bismarck. Dickinson sent two teams, Fargo only one team. We have brand new, state of the art softball and baseball diamonds in our town. I don’t know why we are such a baseball/ softball town. Our Big Sticks baseball team has played the Moondogs several times this summer.

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  6. My dad was a good 3-sport athlete, so my brother and I got into sports at an early age. Baseball, basketball, and football for me until I saw the light about football in 6th grade and bailed after that. I hung on with basketball until 9th grade, and played baseball through high school, although I didn’t make the HS team. Just played in the summer Sr. Babe Ruth/Connie Mack league. I was a decent pitcher and somehow won the team batting average plaque my last year (.354??) I have no memories of hitting that well other than I wasn’t a power hitter so I scratched and clawed for every single I could get.

    I loved hockey from day one but couldn’t skate well enough to make any teams. However, I was a regular Saturday rink rat at the local outdoor rink for several years.

    Gradually, my participation sports evolved to individual sports like tennis and golf. I only play golf now, and used to be halfway decent (low single digit handicap) but that’s tough to do when one gets older and loses a lot of distance off the tee. Plus, I haven’t played as much the past few years, which encourages rust on the short game, putting, and overall ball-striking consistency.

    I’ll echo Clyde’s sentiments about something being wrong with TEAM sports. I’ll just amend that it’s organized team sports that have most of the problems. Parents want their kids to become rich and famous pros, so they push the coaches to push the kids to excel at the cost of a normal life. So many kids are tracked into their best sport at an early age and play and practice only that sport year round. Not healthy for the kid mentally or physically.

    Team sports are great for teaching competition, camraderie, working together for a common goal, and learning to get along with all teammates. They also teach discipline, striving for excellence, and physical fitness as part of daily life. All beneficial in my book.

    Sports are GAMES, people. GAMES should be fun for the participants. If winning is the only goal, and everything else is failure, then the game is no longer fun.

    I love to COMPETE but winning or losing isn’t why. It’s challenging myself to do the best I can under self-imposed pressure that’s fun. If I win a golf match and played my best, I’m happy. If I lose a golf match and play my best, I’m still happy but I congratulate my opponent for playing well too. Of course I don’t like to lose, but the loss is forgotten with the first sip of beer after the round. 🙂

    Chris in Owatonna

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    1. Amen to all that. We have lost the sense of fun and health in sports. Parents are often nuts Sports people sell such huge claims about sports. So I do get why people object.

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        1. I got into that in my early 20s and still love it to this day. I skied a few Mora Vasaloppets and one other race at Jay Cooke SP way back when, but no more racing. I still ski for exercise in the winter–IF WE EVER GET SNOW AGAIN! 😉

          Chris

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  7. I played a little church league basketball, but was not accurate enough to be a forward, or (nor?) aggressive enough to be a guard, and in women’s b’ball you had to… I can’t remember, but it was different from boy’s b’ball.

    The rest of h.s. PE (no women’s sports) left me thinking I was uncoordinated and clumsy. I found folk dancing at age 29 and learned differently – maybe I could have been good at some sport or activity, in the right environment.

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      1. When I was at Carleton, there were some fun ways to complete your PE requirement. I took two terms of juggling, I took archery, and there was also a term of ballroom dancing.

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  8. I once took one for the track team. After just minutes finishing all my regular events, I was still qualified to run a 220 and we needed the points for winning the meet so the coach got me entered with only four other participants. I earned a point for being dead last.

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  9. YA is a jock. So we spent most of her school career as a gymnastics family. In high school she also wanted to go out for the diving team and we had gone so far as to get the team swimsuit for her from Dicks Sports. But then the realization of having to get up every morning at five, because that’s when the diving team practiced, struck her and she backed out.

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      1. From JacAnon–Jacque is gone again.

        Phoebe has made some progress. In particular she is famished and eating quite a bit, but she had lost 3 pounds over the three weeks before we got the diagnosis. So it is a relief to have her eating more. She sleeps alot. Her back legs are still somewhat painful and awkward, but she is up and around. She nudged her leash which means she wants to have a walk (which will be short). So far I would call it a partial recovery that for 2 days of treatment is significant.

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        1. I hope she gets a little better every day. She’s a very young dog, have you checked with your breeder to hear if this has happened to other pups from Phoebe’s litter?

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  15. i was a jock
    baseball, basketball, football, wrestling, swimming
    then when beingvtold i couldnt compete with long hair i turned to rock and roll. much better but i played raquetball did weightlifting also slowpotch softball until 50 ish
    i hate having my body go south. every 10 years new expectations but im fighting to keep it as long as possible
    time to crank it up again now that my leg is no longer an excuse
    glad to be back

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