Thursday, June 01, 2006

I could have been a contender

I am a lefty. A Southpaw. Technically I am a “sit down lefty”. Actually when I was little I could use both hands equally. “I could go to my right, go to my left. I am what you call Amphibious.”

Growing up my 8 siblings and I were all encouraged to play sports. It was not forced upon us but encouraged. We all played the big three, Baseball, Basketball and Football. Eventually some of my brothers branched out to play, what we called then, pussy sports, such as Soccer and Cross Country Running. But when we were little it was the big three.

Some of us were naturally gifted athletes. Then there were some, actually one, me, that were not. I was always the outsider when it came to sports. I realize now that part of that lack of natural talent was due to me being ambidextrous. My dad used to say that when I was young that I would play with either hand. Whatever hand I caught a ball with I would use to throw it back. I could bat left handed or right. I did not favor one over the other.

Eventually what happened was, is that I would imitate my brothers. They were all right handed. So naturally, I would play right handed. Dan and John both batted righty, so then would I. Kevin would drive to the hoop, on the right, so that is what I did. I ended up learning to play sports right handed. I ended up favoring my right side. It never felt uncomfortable, but also at the time maybe I didn’t know better. Maybe I should have played as a lefty, but I wanted to be like my brothers.

Maybe if I played left handed, that one game in 12 year old little league, when the coach gave into my begging to let me pitch a few innings, I would not have thrown a pitch over the back stop. Or maybe that one time when I was in left field that grounder would not have gone through my legs. Or perhaps in high school, I could have been a left handed quarterback, with a rifle arm and gotten a scholarship and now I would be a pro making 20 million a year.

Yeah, I blame my brothers for their influence and for my lack of 20 million dollars. I think they should pay up.

29 comments:

My Pugs Blogger said...

I'm a lefty too - and learned to play sports with my right.

Although - I taking throwing like a girl to a whole new level... so I sympathize.

LizzieDaisy said...

My hub is a lefty too... always whined about stuff like that too. "My teacher would never give me left handed scissors... that's why my picture looks so bad compared to theirs." Yeah, whatever. Always with the excuses...

Anyway, maybe instead of billing them for money they probably don't have you should put ads on your amazing blog, or better yet, write a tell-all book about them. :)

Nature Girl said...

you were amphibious???? So, you were on the swim team?
:P

Stacie

Odd Mix said...

No, stacie, he was a frog - like the enchanted prince.

Effie said...

I too am a lefty among the hordes of righty-s--I ended up batting wrong but I throw and catch left, but apparently I golf right handed too... can't figure it out!

How about left-handed scissors--never any around when you need them, eh?!

Andrea said...

My little five-year-old nephew is right-handed, but is ambidextrous when it comes to basketball. He shoots with his right hand, and dribbles with his left (quite well, I might add, for a five-year-old).

lawnwhisperer said...

Dude,
Doesn't matter what hand you were. You sucked. You could have been a professional comic book reader. That's about it.

Michelle said...

I agree - it sounds like you've got a reasonable suit on your hands. I'm a lefty too and have struggled with the righty scissors and blurred pencil writing for years. Being the girly-girl that I am, I never tried to play any sports where handedness mattered. But DH claims that if he golfed lefty instead of righty his handicap would be way better!

Anonymous said...

You are Amphibious?...love it!

I am also left handed, always have been, yet my mother-in-law, when she saw me writing, asked me how long I had been left handed? uhhhh as of June 12th, it's been 30years...I soooooo hope that my kids don't take after her....

Anonymous said...

love LawnWhisperer's comment. Love it when you two, or more, get into it via the comments section.

Greta Adams said...

lmao....it's ambidextrious...not amphibious...bwhahahaha your killing me dude

kimmyk said...

I'm a lefty but was taught to do everything right handed so people wouldn't make fun of me.

Damn 'em anyways.

Love lawn whisperers comment!

Alisa said...

This is the coolest birth announcement I've ever seen, and since you're playing with editing video footage of Max, maybe you can do something similar for the newbie? Check it out..... - alisa

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2439465048546234695&pl=true

eclectic said...

At the very least they owe you a lot of free babysitting, I think.

Anonymous said...

A. Seems to me that a lot of these Bloggers are Lefty's, that may something about the blog world.
B. Bill was the best at one sport but it wasn't until we got older. Bill was the best pass rusher in our touch football league.
C.We would all be glad to baby sit but unfortunately Bill lives in Florida, and the rest of us are in the Pennsylvania area. He can airmail the kids for a couple of days if he wishes, and we'll send them back, if he wants.

Anonymous said...

I posted here, and think it got lost. Anyway, I'm left handed, and very poor at sports. Maybe that's the reason. I would like to think so.

Unknown said...

William, heh... good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

Do you have 6 fingers on your left hand?

Lowa said...

I eat with my left hand. Shoot left handed in hockey (but that is quite common for right handed people) and...I think I golf left handed. Other than that, I am right handed.


I hear you. I am with you. On the sports thing, but also on the brothers picking on you thing. I would be interested to know what your one and only sister thinks about all of this.

I hate hearing about people who make left handers try to change. My Dad is one and they always tried to get him to switch as a kid. Freaky. That is like changing the colour of your eyes or something almost.

Jewl said...

Hmmm, you are amphibious?

You learn something new every day!

Anonymous said...

I'll have to go with Lawn Whisperer's assessment. I had to watch every damn game you and your buddy who was born almost the same day as you played in from my seat in the marching band section and, yeah, not so much. If I remember correctly, Lawn Whisperer wasn't exactly NFL-quality either. And no one from that school ever got no $20m contract, so don't feel too bad about being ambiphibious : )

Gidge Uriza said...

When I was in grade school and they made us play softball I was absent the day they covered fundamentals. So I missed the concept that you either bat left or right.
Consequently, I would just walk up to the plate and hit from whatever side suited me at that moment. I didn't realize I was supposed to choose.
I wasn't great, but I could hit.
I will never forget the day the sixth grade softball coach was subbing for our gym teacher and she says "Wait a minute......you're a switch hitter?"
I didn't even know what she meant.
I think I broke her heart when I told her that I didn't really even like to play.

Anonymous said...

My wife is a lefty and she throws like a girl...doesn't add to the conversation, sorry :)

Anonymous said...

I know funny. Amphibious... that is funny.

Anonymous said...

Again, like Father, like Son! What can I say! Shoulda, woulda, coulda, should never be in your vocabulary! You can be whatever you want to be! You chose who you are. I love you for that! You can "Contend" with the best of them! Who else has a successful Blog? Who else had every super hero show up at his wedding? Who else is a super hubby and Dad? OOps! Well you might have company there! I love you for who you are, NOT for who you could have been!

The Egel Nest said...

I thought switch hitters were a sought after commodity in the big leagues of baseball!

...and gay bars too...

I had to stick a switch hitter joke in there :)

Bradley
The Egel Nest

Anonymous said...

Rob is a lefty - he was a pretty good baseball player, but halfway through high school he switched to playing the pussy sport of tennis. His opponents hated playing him because he is also ambidextrous and so had two forehands.

I'm also a lefty - nothing bad has come of it for me except for bumping elbows with righties at the dinner table.

Anonymous said...

Mom,
He could have been a GREAT son and stayed in the area, so you could know your grandkids!
That's a lot farther then Jersey, unless there is a parade!

Cappy said...

Same thing happened to me back in the good ol' 1950's. I was an amphibian also. Tennis and golf have been a real bitch to pick up. Always hated baseball. I'd switch sides hitting every time. I didn't strike anyone out until late in the 12th grade. Football and wrestling were better. Much more violence, much less technique.