You can never go home again

This past weekend was fantastic, we had a great time. Today, however, I am paying the price for our antics.

This morning I am nursing a slight hangover, one or more broken ribs, a broken (or very badly sprained) left middle finger, and a multitude of cuts and bruises. I am sure that few players on the field from this weekend's actual game are in worse shape than I. All this because someone decided to bring a football to our tailgating event. One thing led to another, and before I knew what was going on a full-blown 11 on 11 "touch" football game was underway in the parking lot. The problem is that if you pit 22 alpha-males against each other it's only a matter of a few plays before "touch" football becomes full contact.

Long story short I layed out to make a catch and was broad sided by 220 pound D-Ron. That hurt, but a few series later my buddy Greagan delivered the blow that I believe cracked or separated a couple of my ribs on my left side. I'm not pissing blood, so I don't see any reason to sit in the ER for 6 hours so that the doctors can confirm what I already know.

Despite my injuries, I escaped relatively unscathed compared to a few other guys.

Each year one of my buddies from NYC flies a group in for the game. This year he took along two girls that we knew from college, Bombs and Kat. I didn't care for Bombs much in college, she was a "Lacrossetitute" (a girl who only dated varsity Lacrosse players) but after college I got to know her a little better and I really like her now. Kat is another story altogether. We were in the same major, and I had the biggest crush on her all 4 years. She, however, wanted very little to do with me.

I remember seeing Kat walk into my freshman Calculus class. I was already seated and I saw her sit down on the far side of the 200 person auditorium. She was gorgeous. Tall, thin, long brown hair, dark complexion, she was stunning even at 7:30 am on a Monday morning. I had to meet her. I packed up my books and snuck out the side door of the class. I walked around the building and came in the rear entrance on the side where Kat was sitting. I walked down to her row, sat next to her and introduced myself. Kat was luke-warm to me, at best. However, I made small talk before class, and eventually asked Kat if she wanted to study together, which she agreed to. I started dating Cuba a few weeks later, so I think Kat let her guard down at that point because she knew I was no longer trying to sleep with her, but there was always an "arms-length" wariness between her and I.

Sometime during my Sophomore year I convinced Kat to join me for some dance I had to go to, and we ended up in my dorm room afterwards. Nothing much happened, just a little fooling around. I think we hooked up one other time after a party or going to the bars, but again, it was nothing major. I can't remember if she stayed over my place during either od those times, but I think she did once.

It was good to see Kat again, she's a cool girl, but the crush has faded.

For the first time since I left college I really felt out of place going back. I remember one night during my sophomore year I was out at the bars on a football weekend and there were some alumns at the bar. They were reliving their glory days, but it was sad and annoying to watch. Friday night it occurred to me that my buddies and I were now "those guys". We were actually being very tame, just sitting at the bar sharing a pitcher of beer. But we kind of bribed our way past the line, which a few students noticed. The biggest difference, however, was that we are just OLD. I mean, fuck I was almost 15 years older than some of those kids. The other thing was that I was not very tolerant of the college bar scene anymore. It was hot as hell in the bar, they were blaring music I didn't know, and fifty people must have spilled drinks on me. I could only handle it for an hour before I insisted we leave. After that bar we went to a shithole bar we used to frequent in a bad section of town that is not longer a student hangout. It was cool to visit, but again, it was not the same vibe as when we were students. The bar had fallen on hard times and looked like it was close to shutting down altogether. We stayed until last call, but it left me a little depressed.

I missed Kay a little this weekend. I even mentioned her to a few of my friends, who thought I may have been running a fever. I never mention girls to this crew except in a "wild sex" context.