I Am A Ruined Man...

Have you ever been proud and ashamed at the same time? Last night I had one of those moments.

I used to play hockey (okay, "roller" hockey, but still. What can I say? I grew up in Indiana. We had more parking lots than frozen ponds.) on a pretty regular basis. Then, the team I played for decided to switch to Sunday nights and, at the time, my schedule couldn't accomodate that. But lately, I've been able to play ok an as-needed basis. Yesterday, I got the call from the dugout that my services would be needed. So, I strapped on my old gear and entered the rink of battle.

The game was tight. It was 3-3 late in the third. With about 2:30 left in the game, I pursued a puck deep in the corner. The opponent was bringing the puck out and as he got near me, he lost his balance. I don't say that tongue-in-cheek as in he "lost his balance" by me hitting him with my stick. I mean he was clumsy. Well, he fell right into my feet, which caused me to fall. As I fell on top of him, he proceeded to kick and punch at me. This isn't such an abnormality, even in roller hockey. Now, while this is annoying, being that it isn't abnormal, I tried my best just to get up and rejoin the action. When I stood up, my opponent decided he wanted to endanger my future children, by ramming his stick as hard as he could at them. Well, being that we don't know the sex of our child yet, and I don't know whether or not I have a male heir, this simply was unacceptable.

(The following is my recollection of the events. He may remember it differently)

I turned to him and said, "I'm sorry sir that you were unable to proceed unimpeeded down the rink, but I simply was trying to improve my teams situation in this gentlemenly game of puck and stick."

He said, "Screw you!" And punched me in the face.

I said, "Sir, if you want to go to fisticuffs, I've got your Jack Johnson and Tom O'Leary right here."

Then he kicked my dog off the overpass.

I said, "Now this is happening."

And that is (pretty accurately, I must say) how the fight began. I don't know if it was my feeble wrestling background or having just watched GSP destroy Matt Serra, but something instinctively kicked in and I took him down.

To Chinatown.

I'll have to be honest and say that I'm glad I "won". Maybe that's my pride talking. Whatever. If you're going to fight, fight to win right?

But I will say I'm ashamed of myself. Would it have cost me anything to just to walk away even AFTER he hit me? No, it wouldn't have.

But it wouldn't have made a very good story either.