Sports Stuff: Act my age: NOT

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

One day maybe, I will probably learn to act my age. While there are no guarantees that this will ever actually occur and I don’t really consider my age to be a big deal, I do from time to time finally realize that I am not the spring chicken I once was and that my mind still fails to realize.
Over the holidays, my kids, also not as young as they once were, talked me into playing in a one-day softball tournament in Salem. At this point most of you should be saying to yourselves that there is snow on the ground in Salem, since there is snow on the ground in most places in Utah not named St. George.
The weather has also been just a little bit nippy as of late and as some of you have quickly pointed out to me from time to time, I have not been in my customary shorts the past several weeks due to that weather.
Not only was there snow on the ground and not only was the actual day time temperature just a little bit more below freezing than one would like, the clothes that one would have to actually wear to participate in an event such as this would have to be prohibitively cumbersome.
After having been told several times by the organizers of this event that the infield would be cleared of all snow, we arrived at the site to find that this was not actually so. The actual groundwork that had taken place was to clear about four square feet of snow around each of the bases and about 10 square feet at the plate. This had all the appearance of something not being a whole lot of fun.
Although my team lost three straight seven-inning games by a slim margin, and this was not a bad thing, I found out that I actually kind of enjoyed the occasion. As it turned out, stepping out and doing something different was not bad and I actually thought it to be fun.
We played with a green ball that was supposedly easy to see and find. The ball was easy to see out of the snow but it was quite funny watching grown men digging in the snow like a bunch of puppy dogs when the ball buried itself. Although the ball didn’t travel far in the cold weather, fielders also didn’t travel far because of 14 inches of snow hampering their efforts.
I thought that I had done alright playing that day and felt good after the games when we got back into the cars to travel home. After deciding to eat in Price upon our return to the valley, we stopped at KFC to grab a quick bite. There was nothing quick about the stop as I found that all my muscles had grown sore and stiff during the ride home. I was a sight to see as it took awhile for me to stand straight up and a while longer to actually start moving.
This was when age became a factor for me. I was the oldest player on the field and although I did play with my kids and my grandkids, I thought that I was in decent shape and could use the exercise. Running in that much snow is evidently a much different action that normally engaged in by me and I was now sore to prove it.
I am still not convinced that acting my age would have made any difference except I may not have played but that is not me. I enjoy doing things today that I would have enjoyed doing years ago. I refuse to slow down and not be me. I think I can and therefore I will still try, I will do my best to succeed. Even though I am still sore, I would do it again tomorrow.
I choose to play rather than sit in the bleachers. There is a saying on my wall that says “None of us get out of the game of life alive. You can either die in the bleachers or down on the field, so come on down and go for it.” I choose to go for it.