Thank-You Mom!

Beautiful isn't it? The Lombard Falcons. A local Park District team for all age groups and levels. Just look at those colors. I loved them. Purple and white with a falcon on the helmet.
Like many kids my age way back when, I loved Football. I remember waking up on Sunday mornings at my Grandparents, opening up the Trib or Times, and circling all the teams I thought would win that day, while eating my eggs, sauasage and wheat toast. They still do it sometimes today, but it was usually just the helmets of teams going up against each other and some info and stats, and of course the point spread.
I was an active child. I played soccer, baseball, played football in the field all day, tag, you name it. When I saw these kids in these uniforms though, I really wanted to join the Falcons.
NO WAY! UH Uh! NEVER! Those were probaly some of the things my Mom said when I asked to play. My Grandma was in agreement. I may have cried alone somewhere, and I didn't really bother them much after that. I knew when no was no. They talked about the risk of injury, that I wasn't big enough for those other kids, etc..
Who knows if I had gotten hurt, but I do know this: Being 34 years old, my body has general aches and pains and the like. If I had played and maybe worked out like these guys do, played high school football(yeah right, that would never happen, I am tiny, my Mom was right,) I would definitley be in way more pain than I'm in now.
College and into the NFL. My Lord! Many of these players have poor quality in their lives, can't walk, diabetes, heart disease, early death. All for playing the game they love, and I can't blame them. It's awesome! As a child, it produced a lot of great times and memories, whether watching it on the television, or playing with my friends on Jackson Field.
So thank-you Mom for saying No! I love you for that.
I would not have wanted to get hit like this poor fellow.