FOOTBALL COMMITMENT
Some boys taught me to play football. This was fine sport. You thought up a new strategy for every play and whispered it to others. You went out for a pass, fooling everyone. Best, you got to throw yourself mightily at someone’s running legs. Either you brought him down or you hit the ground flat out on your chin, with your arms empty before you. It was all or nothing. If you hesitated in fear, you would miss and get hurt: you would take a hard fall while the kid got away. But if you flung yourself wholeheartedly at the back of his knees–if you gathered and joined body and soul and pointed them fearlessly–then you likely wouldn’t get hurt, and you would stop the ball. Your fate, and your team’s score, depended on your concentration and courage. Nothing girls did could compare with it . . . You have to fling yourself at what you’re doing, you have to point yourself,…
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