1986: 40 Thoughts in 40 Days

I have a confession to make.

Maybe "confession" isn't the right word.  But this isn't something that I tend to ...announce...to others.

If you're reading this and we went to school together - then you already know.

If you're reading this, however,  and we've only become friends in the last 15 years?...this may be a shocker.

You see, yours truly...
...was a cheerleader.       

It's not that being a cheerleader is necessarily a bad thing, and I do have a decent amount of athletic ability.  I just never cared for running up and down the basketball court back and forth, back and forth, dribble, dribble, dribble, shoot!  So, in the 7th and 8th grade, I  cheered on our Jr. High boys basketball teams.  But in the spring of 1986 it was time to see if I really had "the stuff."  So when try-outs were held in the spring for the high school fall football cheerleading squads, I practiced, I learned how to do a round-off, I perfected my cartwheel, and I did my thing.

Obviously from the short-skirted, skinny-legged photo above,  I made the Junior Varsity squad.  This meant...well, all it meant was that I had the ugly uniform.  Honestly, there were 4 JV and 4 Varsity cheerleaders, and all 8 of us cheered at Friday night football games.

I liked it, and I kept doing it.  Year....after year...after year....after year.  Football and Basketball - all the way through high school.

And before you ask:  No, I never had any inclination whatsoever to cheer beyond high school.  No, I don't still have the uniform.

Let's just all move on from this little revelation, shall we?

A quick side-note, 1986 also brought the first album from my all-time favorite songwriter.  Ever.  This is a recording from 1982, but the song was on his 1986 album...and I liked this version.  A Lot.  It's raw.  It's powerful.  It's pure Rich.

C.






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