In just a few hours my football team Kung Fu Hustle will embark on our 8th season! With the way the last one ended you might be surprised to see us back out there but here we are ready to rumble. This year we’ve been moved to UB North up in Amherst instead of South Buffalo. The fields seem nicer, more even and the view out there is beautiful so it seems like things from a league perspective are looking up.
Speaking of which, last season was up and down to say the least. We continued along the same strange path we had established the season before that… we would elevate our game and beat the best teams in our division and then have tons of trouble with the ones towards the bottom of the barrel. Since our division now has no clear cut favorites in it, I wonder if it’s a good thing or bad thing.
Last year ended in such surreal fashion. We were in a playoff game and we jumped ahead 20-0. We were dominating this opponent. Everything was going our way and then… two of our players slammed into each other, one badly injuring his knee and the other suffering a broken face for lack of better terms. Both had to be helped off the field and suddenly we were 2 men short. I wasn’t even sure about continuing to play when one of my friends was pretty messed up and bleeding a lot on the sideline. We continued the game but it wasn’t right and we ended up losing by 2 points, something like 35-33. It was a sham and after the game I know a few of us were thinking if maybe that was it for our team.
Somewhere between then and now we decided we can’t go out like that. We are now 4 full seasons removed from our only division championship. That year everything clicked and most importantly I got to throw a long touchdown strike at Ralph Wilson Stadium in the title game! 3 seasons ago we lost in the title game while attempting to defend our title and the last 2 seasons our up and down squads have lost in the first round of the playoffs.
The thing about us is that you never know what to expect. That goes for on the field and off. Our teams have a high turnover rate each season, we have the experience and savvy to beat anyone and we are just as capable playing a brutally ugly brand of football as we are of playing so beautiful, you’d think it was art. This year we welcome more than a half dozen new players to replace about that many we’ve lost from last season. Are the new players better than the ones they’ve replaced? Well I guess time will tell but we like the new personnel. Only myself and the team captain have been there for all 8 seasons and we’ve seen many people come and go.
Speaking of the team captain, he, myself and another teammate will get to partake in our pregame ritual tomorrow morning before our first game. That consists of going to the very delicious Betty’s for breakfast before we head out to the field. The food is great, we talk about the forthcoming game and my friend gets to make eyes with the pretty waitress he has a thing for. You can get an order of fruit there which I absolutely love in the morning before a game. I’m going to do that and perhaps some French toast depending on what their specials are.
I’m almost as optimistic about our chances this season as I am about how great breakfast will be. As I said, there are no dominant teams in our division so tomorrow may very well be the first step to our 2nd division title… Wish us luck!
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