The Smells Of My Youth

I played Football for Shaker, I am a finely-tuned ex-high school athlete and this time of the year reminds me of the smells I used to smell on the field, in the huddle and especially in the locker room, nothing brings back memories like blood, sweat, dirt and sometimes vomit.

I played for Shaker but I was not very good, the highlight of my football career was a game against Colonie where I had 4 tackles and a fumble recovery, I was overshadowed by my cousin who intercepted my teams first pass attempt and took it 60 yards for a touchdown, right after he waived to me on the sideline.

I played football my freshmen and sophomore year and I was always a second-string linemen. Our freshmen team was terrible but we had spirit, we almost destroyed the locker room after a game because we scored a touchdown, we scored 3 that year.

When I was on the J.V. team my sophomore year it was different because the team won enough games to make it to the playoffs but I played less.

Other highlights include: Instigating a brawl in Amsterdam, escaping the clutches of a huge linemen from Schenectady who was trying to start a fight with me, punching a player from Shenendehowa in the face for holding me. I suppose my biggest highlight was forgetting to wear extra layers when playing Saratoga, in Saratoga in late October, I think I almost froze to death, the coaches had to play me because other players noticed that I could not feel them touching me to feel how cold I was.

Out of all the memories of when I played high school football it's the smells that stick out the most, like the sock my friend kept in a ziplock bag for the entire season that we would only take out to punish people with, every time I realize that I need to put on some deodorant or take a shower it reminds me of when I played football.