AMA 16: French

For many of you, I have revealed oodles, but I enjoy shooting the shizz, so openfully I open some new avenues of quirks on today's AMA.

- While I played "little kid" rec league sports, I didn't play any organized football until 9th grade, and outside of little league baseball (which, much to my chagrin because baseball was my favorite sport when sports became a thing in my mind in the spring of 1986), I didn't play any kind of organized sports until I was an eighth grader.

-My favorite sport was tennis. I was a huge Andre Agassi and Jim Courrier mark. I had one of the first Head Radical Trysis rackets in the neon green and black. However, I didn't play at an organized level. I played against friends who played organized tennis at the town courts behind the public library every day I could from 6th-8th grade, but had enough shade thrown at me by being a chunky kid (was usually around 200-220 and no muscle at that time) that I never even asked to try organized. I continued to play for fun through college (won the EHC intramural championship in 1998 against one of @Wiley's frat brothers) and until around 2010, when bicipetal tendonitis and back issues caused me to stop playing. My cousin played at Virginia Tech and is now a tennis pro in Richmond.

- I got goaded/bullied into throwing shot and discuss by one of my mom's coworkers in eighth grade. We ran a mile everyday as a warmup. Even when I was at my most athletic in college, running any kind of a distance without there being a competative element was miserable because my mind would wander and rationalize not doing it. I am pretty convinced that I am undiagnosed ADHD. Look at that groundhog. I was ok at shotput (best throw was 42-6, but didn't qualify for regionals my senior year) and sucked at the discuss. You guessed it, even though I wasn't the biggest guy, I had heavy feet and couldn't build momentum.

-After eighth grade track season, I got into the weight lifting program, and the same colleague of my mom berated me into playing football. That first year, especially the first eight weeks or so, was brutal. I didn't know what pads I needed. I had no idea how to move or control your body. My neck ached so bad I couldn't sleep at night just from the extra weight of the helmet. And most importantly, I had no idea how to absorb or deliver contact. I got knocked around pretty badly, didn't play, and generally hated life. But, I enjoyed the commraderie. I never became very good, but learned pretty quickly so I could hold my own.

- A couple of days after we lost to Gate City in the playoffs my senior year, I was with my Dad and Uncle on a hunting trip in Craig County. My uncle had major health issues that caused him to pass out at times. He shot a deer, and radioed for me to come aid him with the gut and drag out. I took my belt off and started to turn around in my stand to climb down. As I did, the ladder kicked out sideways. We found out later someone had loosened the chain around the tree. I fell about fourteen feet and landed on the outside of my left ankle, suffering a grade three sprain (major tear) of all three ligaments on the outside of the ankle. The pain was so bad, I thought I had broken my leg just below the knee. Game warden and EMS had to come up into the woods and haul me out. The doctor told me it would have been better off if I broke it. I was in a cast from November to February, and that sumbitch smelled rank.

- The ankle killed any chance of playing any sport in college, so I went to EHC just hoping to enjoy the college experience. I loved the liberal arts and history curriculum, and especially loved having free access and people to constantly compete against. Basketball, tennis, golf (all free), so I was out moving around constantly. And it paid off physically. I went from around 270 when I graduated from high school to down around 215 that fall freshman year. But, I had left high school football with such an embittered experience that it nagged me every Saturday when I saw my dormmates take the field. Finally right before Christmas, I went and talked with Fred Selfe, the offensive line coach at EHC who had played with my dad in the 1960s. He made no promises, but suggested I join their spring S&C program and see how it went. I stuck with it, and was asked to attend fall camp. I never thought I would see the field, but college football was a real eye opener. There was instruction, not yelling. You were expected to come to camp in shape, so they didn't kill you with the conditioning (it was way easier from a cardio perspective than high school was), and the training staff meticulously made sure you were well hydrated. I took to the intellectual approach, and while the speed of the game and the ferocity of the contact was much more violent than high school, the way practice time played out, I loved the experience. I played in the very first game I dressed, against a top ten ranked Washington and Jefferson (we beat them 38-10 if I remember correctly). That was really something.

- I didn't play a huge amount. I was undersized (6-0, got back up to around 240 after two years in the lifting program), but at least I was slow. But, I lost the love of the game by my last year. I probably should have left things thing. Despite nagging pain in my injured ankle, at least I didn't get hurt my first two years. My senior year, in my first ever scrimmage working on first team, I was down field blocking a safety on a toss sweep and our All-American tailback ran up the back of my leg. It was the left ankle again. I missed two weeks of practice, tried to come back way too soon, and never really recovered mentally or physically. Even though I was on XP/FG team, I was mentally completely checked out. Football, even as a fan or an impartial observer, has always been something that was more a labor than a love, but I do love thinking about the art of it, and I miss the comraderie.

- kids, don't get a history degree if you aren't going to teach. After school, I worked in juvenile corrections, a Civil War museum in Petersburg, a dental secretary, a concert promotion company, a temp, and a grass roots civic education non-profit. I was very fortunate that a Hokie alum recommended me to her boss as a great mind when it came to Congressional grass roots advocacy, and said boss hired me to a healthcare technology not-for profit. That was in 2006. I am still there-today is my first day as Senior Director, Public Policy and Content Development.

- Cheese- as someone noted in another thread, I enjoyed cheese as a little kid, especially brown sugar cheese sandwiches. But, I got violently ill once from an Arby's Beef and Cheddar when I was around four. While I still was able to eat pizza (except Dominos because the powdered parmasaen made me gag) with cheese until my early 30s, everything else triggered a violent gag reflex. Just walking through the cheese area in Wegmans gives me a seasick type of reaction.

- Stuff I loved as a kid: Airwolf, Iron Eagle, The Transformers, History (let me tell you about the yellow and blue Spellbinder's Fisher Price cassette about George Washington and naming all the presidents in order in second grade), dinosaurs (my first dream was to be a paleontologist- Diplodocus was da man), Don Mattingly, Steve Largent, Thurman Thomas, James Worthy, Sean Elliott, Jerry Rice, ETSU baseketball Agassi, Courrier, and for some reason, when the Indianapolis 500 came on, Danny Sullivan? I still don't rememember why.

- Favorite Bar- the Sophisticated Otter in Johnson City TN. A old friend of mine who I haven't seen in a very long time was the owner. We had some good times there.

- Favorite concert- so many... my musical memories and preferences vary day to day. Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Flogging Molly at Ziggys, Oasis and Travis at the Patriot Center, Soundgarden at the Patriot Center, Reel Big Fish and the Ernies at Trax, and any number of Gran Torino shows would probably be up there

- it is no secret that most of my time not working is focused on New York Rangers hockey and fishing.

Okay. Enough emoting. Fire away the questions.