Day in the Life of a Seminary Student

Another time that dad’s imagination got the best of him was in seminary back in IN. This was before he was married and he was watching a basketball game. His mind was wandering thinking of ways he could impress the girls in the crowd. Obviously his experience years earlier at the shore didn’t stop him from coming up with crazy ideas. He thought to himself "if a fight broke out at the game, I could get in there and really show this small IN town what a guy from Philly can do!" Just as he was thinking this through, a scuffle broke out among the players. Dad immediantely rushed down to the floor, fists in the air, ready to take someone on. This is just what he imagined would happen! Only, it wasn’t QUITE what he had imagined after all. It was only once he was on the fall that he realized the players, who looked much smaller at the top of the bleachers now dwarfed my 5’7" dad. And, to add insult to injury, no one else had found the need to get involved in a brawl at a non-violent, brethern, seminarian basketball game!! So, there he stood, alone on the floor, while 6’8" basketball players just stared at him. The cheerleaders looked at him like he was some kind of serial killer and the fans just looked at him with disgust. So much for his "big hero-Philly guy" routine. Guess watching the "Godfather" had put too many ideas in his head. He wasn’t going to be Sonny after all. As he humbly walked back up the bleachers, he saw a woman holding her elbow. "Are you ok?" he asked, hoping that somehow he could redeem himself by giving aid to this injured woman. "Oh, I’m ok. You just kicked me when you were running down the bleachers. But, I had surgery on it recently, so it’ll be fine.". Great. So, not only did he run down the bleachers into a non-existant fight only to be humiliated in front of the entire crowd of people, but the one person injured in the maylay was someone he hurt in his own attempt to be the macho Jersey guy. His friends turned away from him as he got closer to get his stuff. Again, it seems his friends left him to absorb the full impact of his stupidity alone. There was no sneaking out either. You can’t sneak out of a basketball game, so he gathered his things and quietly walked out. Head hanging low, humiliation growing.