Season's Cafe

The new Incubus CD blasts in my headphones as I look around at my foreign surroundings. The fresh roast Newport coffee is tinkling my soul and crushing the sleep in my eyes.  To my right are large glass windows splashed with "specials" such as $3.95 New England clam chowder and $4.95 Falafels w/ hummus… I am in a food paradise.  I order the Chowder and quickly get corrected by a local.  A large man sitting at the far table reading the Boston Globe raises his head and says “It’s Chowwdaaa, not Chowder.  Get it right if you’re gonna hang here.”  I immediate apologize and graciously accept his criticism.  Internally, I am laughing my ass off at the scenario.  

I have noticed the blunt and direct style of speech here in the Boston area.  It’s similar to Philly but people refuse to use the letter "R".  What did the letter "R" ever do to these people that they refuse to use it?  The obvious three examples I have noticed are Car = Cah, Dark = Dahk, and Red Sox = Da Sauhx.  It’s a blatant rebellion of the English language and quite entertaining to a foreigner such as myself.  

I am less than 200 yards from the beautiful, luxurious Best Western that I am staying at for two weeks… home sweet home.  I am at the Season’s Café across the street.  My roommate's name is Sam Carlisle.  He is a North Carolinian who stands 6’10’’ 265lbs.  He is quite large and a very nice kid (23yrs old).  And yes I said kid, as I am one of the older players in the league.  We do have a 37-year-old on our team.  His name is “Shake” and looks exactly like Michael Jordan.  He is from Chicago and wears all Jordan gear.  He wears 2 large diamond earrings at all times and sticks his tongue out when driving the lane.  

Our hotel is located in Rockland, Mass which is 20 miles from downtown Boston.  It is quite annoying considering we have to get into the city every day to play at the Reggie Lewis Center.  They chartered a bus for the 10 players staying at the hotel but it only makes one trip per day.  It picks everyone up at 8 am and comes back to the hotel at 5 pm.  It’s perfect timing for Boston’s famed and annoying traffic. Luckily, I have my car so I can drive whenever I want. 

There are 4 teams of 10 people in the league and each team has had two practices so far.  Games start today but my team doesn’t play until tomorrow night.  Our team is coached by Ted Cottrell, a former UMASS player.  I quickly realized that my former Youngstown State coach, John Robic, was his assistant coach at UMASS.  It’s amazing how small the basketball community is… I mean, my coach at a random league in Boston had the same college coach as I did… hilarious.

Basketball wise I am not intimidated by anyone in the league.  It’s amazing how age and experience can affect confidence.  As I always say “With age comes experience, with experience, comes wisdom, with wisdom, comes anything you desire.”  I have never actually said that but it does seem very true. 

My dad sent me a sweet quote one time… it said…

“Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.”

Luckily, my mind says it’s GO TIME… time to prove I belong!