Even through all of the havoc that I caused in pop warner for the next 6 years, there was one piece of sanity that I had in my earlier years of game. That piece of sanity was my childhood friend, since I was in 3rd grade, Salo sporting the #8 jersey. He was the reason behind why I wasn’t kicked off the team earlier, for not almost beating some kid from a different team to death, for not getting arrested for mental instability, shit come to think about it, he was the reason I didn’t lose myself to my mental. Kind of like a savior of sorts that’s a rare find in a life like mine.

I met Salo in the principals office right after getting in trouble for stirring up a fight in class, forgot what it was about though. He was the first one to spark the conversation with the funniest thing I have ever heard at the time, “If your nose gets any bigger, my family would know where to move to next.” Usually when someone says something like that to you, you would want to go over and fuck the person up, but to me he was speaking the truth, I do have big ass nostrils under my nose. After I was done laughing, I replied with ,”Ms. Watz, I thought we were going to the zoo next week, why is that monkey here?” The lady(Ms. Watz) that was in the office told me to shut up, but I believe Salo was causing more noise then me with his ugly but lovable laugh. From that point on, we became the closest thing to brothers that we wish we both had, even if that meant causing the  same amount of trouble wherever we went and getting slapped by our moms just as much as the other.

When it came to football, Salo and I were like the defensive dynamic duo. Wherever we gone, we literally brought “hell on earth” by the way we played. Whoever I tackled, he would be right there to get a crushing hit in on a different area of the body, and vice versa(with me being a bit more aggressive). Always putting on a show for the families that came to watch the 4-8 (me being #4) rip the other team a new one. At this point, it was the closest thing we felt to being like superstars of a professional team of sorts.

It all sounds good right? Like, what can possibly go wrong? Well.. Everything I knew, was about to change within my last year of Pop Warner..

 

¨Don´t give up on that dream…For me and you Rey…¨ -#8

From time to time, I get asked how long I have been in the game and why I choose to put my body through the rigors of the game. Most of the time, I just say long enough and because I like to hit, but then there´s those times where I sit down with a person and share my story around Football.  I tell them about the happiness it brought to me and the everlasting pain it introduced to me to at a young age, how it made me compassionate beyond proportions. It all began in 03´, back at my cousin’s house for the Ravens @ Chargers game on TV.

I was five at the time, just getting to learn about the world and everything going on around it. I didn’t know any thing about sports, media, or politics. I just knew how to make a figure out of lego bricks. I remember hearing my folks in the house screaming at the TV due to the game that was playing, being the curious kid I was I went into the house to see what they were going on about. This is when I learned about Football. I was immediately hooked, no questions asked, besides asking what teams were playing that day.

On that day, I also learned about the man who I look up to every single day on and off the field, #52 Ray Lewis. The swagger he carries, the intensity he brings, the compassion he shows, the wisdom he preaches, he embraces the perks of a role model like no other, someone who truly became something out of nothing.

The next day, I remember asking my mom to sign me up for the nearest Pop Warner Team near us. One would expect her to be all excited about it but her reaction was rather scared and weary. She started to tell me about how my father used to play it in High School and a bit in college, along with baseball.  She said he was a “rare breed”among others at the time and was considered to be a future star in the league. She went on to how he had to quit because he had suffered too many injuries to the head, paying the price later on by becoming mentally unstable and almost killing her when I was still in her belly.

At first, I was nervous after she told me about the effects of Football, but that’s when I recalled a quote I heard from Ray Lewis, the exact words I told her was, “Mommy, I want to be pissed off for greatness!” she slapped me but the smile on her face afterwards told me she was proud of me for wanting to be successful later life, even if that meant sacrificing my body to do so. Next thing you know, I was wearing my first practice uniform, waiting to get my first hit in.