My Life in the D League

A break up is like a mid-life crisis. You come out of it, look around, take stock. You buy hair plugs or find yourself doing things you’ve never done before – like joining a gay softball team. The Fireplug and I had been homebodies, and after we called it quits I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. A friend told me he had joined D league softball. “There’s a D league?” I said. “I could maybe do a D league.” So I joined. I’m not very good. I panic. I strike out. I drop balls. Of all the sports I could play, softball may just be the one for which I’m least suited. But this is the error-ridden D league, of which someone said, “Every play is an adventure.” I like being good at things. Writing, school, work, sex. When I’m bad at something my instinct is to run away, but I made a decision to stay put in the D league no matter what. I’m not sure why. Character building? Proving my masculinity (yet again)? Or is it because my team told me I looked hot in a catcher’s mask? Only after ignoring the instinct to run away does another impulse fill me: to stick around, till that’s something I’m good at, too.

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Posted March 15th, 2010 in softball, story.

5 comments:

  1. Kevin Lately:

    Good For you. IM terrible at almost everything requiring eye Hand Coordination. If you stay with it; That’s a Home Run. Best of Luck Kevin

    March 15th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
  2. snoopy:

    hey mike- good to see something or hear from you. i’ve hoping that you have taken your ‘free’ time turned it into some productive. hopefully, we can learn from our mistakes and move forward. god knows that i still a many of lessons to learn (and esp. from my own mistakes).

    i played softball during one of my job stints. i am not the greatest athlete by any means, but i am somewhat fit. the only thing i can remember from that sumer was that we had fun. drinking beers after the game was probably the most fun. talking about it was another.

    point is; just get out and be yourself again. i realize it sucks and can be painful, but you are a great guy. so, go out in the world and so people who you are and who knows, maybe someone else may want to know more of you.

    give us readers a picture to enjoy of you wearing your uniform…
    snoopy

    March 16th, 2010 at 8:32 am
  3. palochi:

    However, definitely follow the instinct to run away if you ever seriously start considering hair plugs.

    I doubt it’s about proving your masculinity or any of those other things. Maybe it’s about the desire to get out and socialize. Now and then, even the introverts need a little of this. Especially so if they look hot in a catcher’s mask.

    March 16th, 2010 at 11:07 am
  4. Nick:

    Hey. Major congrats on joining the softball team. Really, it IS all about having fun, making friends and looking hot in that catcher’s mask. I played in a “sissy softball” league for 4 years about a decade ago and those were some of the best times of my life. And I met my all-time best fuckbud through softball. Enjoy! ~Nick

    March 16th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
  5. Drew:

    Joining a gay softball team in the wake of a recent break-up–when I had no experience playing either baseball or softball and no skills transferable thereto–was one of the best things I’ve done in my whole life.

    Hope it works out as well for you, too.

    March 20th, 2010 at 5:53 pm

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