I grew up in the inner cities of Milwaukee/Chicago went to public schools,seen a lot of crazy things,knew a lot of gang members from gangs like Vice Lords,BGD,P Stones,Latin kings etc...but Basketball was my first love it's all I ever thought about and did and I was damn good at it too,because me being white I had to prove myself ever single time I stepped on the court among,100's or in some cases 1000's of black players and fans,it was nothing but pure motivation for me,when I finally knew I had arrived as a basketball player and was very respected is when they started calling me Larry Bird and if you know anything about basketball you knew who Larry Bird is/was.
Now my older brother he was the football player of the family...and let me tell you what I've never ever seen anyone before or after him as dominating as he was offensively and defensively DT 6-5 320 lbs nothing but twisted steel and metal OT just a bulldozer pancaking everyone in his path he actually got ejected from a game for rough play,and a games was cancelled because he clotheslined a player and they were afraid to move him and it took the ambulance forever to get there,every single school in the BIG 10 was after him until he started smoking weed skipping practice and of course girls and he blew it all...he was team captain,did the punting and kickoffs also.
Up there Basketball was king,there were no stadiums not even any lights or bleachers,games were played right after school at 4 pm because there were no lights,fans and parents were on the sidelines with the players and coaches,my brother went to a private catholic school for 9th grade he never wanted to play football but my father made him play and that's why he played with such anger and aggression,and I kid you not they played their games at the local park and the referees would be the ones drawing the lines on the field,they played on fields with manhole covers on them,then his sophomore junior and senior year he went to a public school called the Riverside Tigers.
I moved to Thomasville on July 4th 1986 and I wondered what and where in the world my parents brought me to,this small town with a big Chair right in the middle of it,there were no professional teams at that time,I was use to watching the Bulls,Whitesox,cubs,Bears and Blackhawks from Chicago and the Bucks,Brewers and Packers from Milwaukee.
I went to Thomasville HS from a sophomore on never knew about the success or tradition of the football program I head some talk amongst other kids probably players talking about the past game or something but I was still in love with basketball at that time,never even knew what was going on just blacks away from me on a Friday night,I lived on cox avenue and residents of Thomasville on here should know where that's at,and it's not far from the stadium just basically right across the railroad tracks.
My first game was the 1990 western final against Starmount which Thomasville won 10-7 in overtime and after that I was hooked on the Bulldogs,I never missed a game for years and years,I took losing personal I couldn't sleep I wouldn't watch the news or read the sports page,I was expecting Thomasville to win every single time they stepped onto that field and 9 out of 10 times they did that in dominating fashion,and the number are there to back it up with.
Now that I've gotten older I still love the games but,it has its proper place in my life now,way down the list of things that really matter in life it's just a game played by kids and if they lose now which they are doing quite a bit of now I'll still sleep good at night watch the sports and it don't bother me now...I would love to see the team get back to their winning ways again absolutely,I just don't follow it as closely as I once did,I go to a game now and just relax and watch,I'm not hollering at the refs and things like that,I just do it to get out the house and spend some time with my youngest son,when my grandson gets older I'll be taken him to some games with me.