Is it too late for a "do-over"....

It's snowing.....again.  The second major snow event in as many weeks, but this time I don't have anywhere I absolutely need to go, so I won't venture out beyond the ranch boundaries for a day or two.  After all, there's plenty of work to do right here.

It's bitterly cold, with wind chills below zero which reminds me of a football game we played in Fairbury, Nebraska. The weather was much the same except for the snow.  There was a little snow on the ground, but what I remember most is the field. It had evidently been wet when another game had been played, and the field looked as though a herd of cattle had tromped over it. It was treacherous footing at best, and now that the field was frozen solid, it was downright dangerous. What a miserable venue....but we played the game....and it hurt.....a lot.

In junior college I played running back, and was also the team's punter. There were times when, like the Fairbury game, I would get really beat up as a running back, then have to punt the ball into a driving, gale force wind.  To me, punting was a sideline.....I made my living as a running back.

Sometimes my punts weren't very pretty.

We were playing a home game, and it was a beautiful fall night.  There were coaches visiting from the University of Miami to scout a few of us and we were pumped. Miami had a long history of recruiting players from our little community college, so it was not unusual for them to make a visit or two. The year before, Kurt Schottenheimer and a couple of our receivers had signed with the team and they were doing well.

That night I had a good night running the ball, and two of my punts were boomers.  After the game, a couple of us were greeted by the Miami coaches and asked to stick around to watch some Miami film and talk about the opportunity for a scholarship. It was an exciting time.

"Jack, we were really impressed with your punts tonight and think you're the guy we'd like to have punting for us next year.  We believe that if we get you to a warmer climate, and concentrate on just punting, you'll probably add 5-7 yards to your average."

"What do you mean, concentrate on just punting?  I'm a running back."

"We have a stable full of good running backs, what we need is a good punter."

"Not interested.  I want to go to a school where I can run the ball."

Days like today get me to thinking about that conversation.....Do you know that the University of Miami used to have a picture of its Olympic sized swimming pool on the cover of its brochure?   What was I thinking?

You think it's too late for a "do-over"? 

Evidently, this whole "What do I know" goes way back.....