It’s not the size of the dog in the fight… or is it?

My foot feels like it is fractured. I’m icing it right now as I write this post.

Today while playing frisbee this big guy fell on my foot. As he was falling I felt him grab for my arm and hold it as he fell. Perhaps I imagined him grabbing my arm, but I did not imagine the pain when he fell on my foot.

This particular person has a penchant for falling down whenever he is trying to catch a frisbee. Ever seen Manu Ginobli flop? Well, this kid has been taking lessons and now the student has become the teacher.

Over the past few months we’ve had some minor altercations, but this was the first time that i was truly upset. After having spent the last 6 years with heel spurs my feet are finally feeling better. After game 1 today I was elated at how my heels barely hurt. I mean, they feel like 90% better and it gave me hope that one day I may have a complete recovery. So when this guy fell on my foot I was livid for multiple reasons.

A. I felt like he pulled me down on purpose
B. He crushed my foot and I think it is fractured
C. By flopping around and falling he unnecessarily injured me and now I might not be able to play next week or racquetball this week. Plus, I’ll be hobbing around tomorrow at church and all next week at work.

So after this guy fell on me I got up and I wanted to punch him in the face. If you were to see the footage on instant replay you would notice that I actually think for a split second and instead of punching him in the face I punched him in the chest. I also, without thinking about it, said, “Don’t fu%king do that again!” It was the dragging me down with him that pushed me over my limit.

A little bit of a shouting match ensued because this particular person is very volatile, but I knew it was mostly just letting off steam. I immediately felt bad for punching him, but only marginally so. Eventually Mike had to come over and separate us and by then I was already cool.

The funny part is that I was actually pretty proud of myself for not going more ballistic and at the same time for getting upset at all. My whole life I’ve backed down from a fight or a confrontation. I’ve been “nice” and sometimes nice guys really do finish last. You let stuff like that keep happening and more and more people are going to get hurt. Standing up for yourself, even when it is caused from an emotional outburst is not something to be ashamed of. When a tiger is backed into a corner it’s going to fight it’s way out and there really isn’t a way to fight without emotion getting involved.

I’ve been working on setting a better example lately at work, on my blog and in my personal life and so this was actually sort of interesting that this happened. When it was over I apologize repeatedly to everyone. Hey, I’m human, I make mistakes, but I’m never afraid to own up to them.