ouch...

so, i love playing sports. i played baseball for 5 years as well as soccer and some basketball when i was a kid. I didn't play in school, so i got a bit "rusty" and have been playing softball on our Pro Look team for about 5 years now...i gotta say - i LOVE playing...

Well, when i was a kid i played tons of different positions (pitcher, 2nd, etc.) but mostly they put me in the outfield because i could throw it very hard. One coach even told me that i didn't have to hit the cut-off man if i thought it could get someone out by throwing straight to the play. So, i loved throwing it hard. Then i didn't play for years and when i got to SUU in 1994 a couple of my roommates and myself went to the park to throw the ball around. Here is a warning for everyone of you that has heard a coach tell you to "WARM UP" before throwing a ball hard...well, i didn't warm up and i started to throw the ball hard like i used to and we ended up throwing for an hour and a half and every throw i made was as hard as i could throw it...the next day i couldn't raise my arm at all...it hurt for months...about 6 months after that we went on a road trip and stopped next to a canyon and got out to throw rocks into a lake...i picked up a rock and threw it and about fell over in agony -- my shoulder still killed after 6 months...i knew i'd screwed it up and i didn't throw again until we started our Pro Look team...

So, i go out into the the outfield after not throwing for so long and i'm SO worried i can't throw and i start throwing and it didn't hurt, but I COULDN'T throw straight or hard anymore...i'm sure most of it was being worried about throwing, holding back and not following through because i was concerned, etc...i've never recovered from it (mentally, etc.) and i'm sure some of it is time and distance from my childhood blurring my memory into thinking i could actually throw hard and straight in the first place :-)

Fast forward to last night...i've been feeling good about my game for a while now...a couple of weeks ago i batted 1000 (5 for 5) and made a sweet play at first where i robbed a guy who hit a line drive at me (well, i took it on the hop, but it was coming FAST)...so, i'm thinking i'm the man (they put me on first because of the aforementioned bad arm :-)...so, i'm at first thinking i'm all that and a bag of chips and they had moved Ryan from center field to 2nd because we were short players...Ryan has an AMAZING arm and can throw it home from center and get guys out at home (he did last night)...he's played college baseball and it shows...so, he's on 2nd and the ball is hit to him...he picks it up and throws it at me on first and it is SO FAST that i don't have time to react I just put my arm out and i don't remember even seeing the ball...next thing i know i'm in total pain because i put my arm out and judged the height of the ball perfectly -- but i didn't judge the distance of the ball from my body at all -- it hit me right in the forearm and i thought i'd broken it...i looked down at it after a minute and noticed that YOU CAN SEE THE STITCHES FROM THE BALL!!! Here are a couple of pictures for Lissette :-)

I'm surprised it didn't bruise more...

Here is a close-up so you can really see the thread