Intramural sports keep dreams alive

When I was a kid there was only one thing I wanted to be when I grew up -- a professional baseball player. From the first time I picked up a bat and ball I thought there was nothing cooler in the whole world. The first time I went to a Mariners game, words couldn't describe the way I felt. The excitement, the drama -- I had to be a part of it. And when I went home and set foot onto that Little League field the next afternoon, I was a pro baseball player.

Don't deny it, every youngster has felt the same way about some sport or activity during his or her childhood. There's just something about it that draws us in and takes a hold of our heart and soul. It's more than a feeling. It's an experience -- an experience unlike any other.

Unfortunately, as we grow older and realize that becoming a pro athlete is probably nothing more than a dream, we sit back and watch as our heroes play on without us. Well, the time for watching is over. It's time to put the Cheese-Its down, rise up off the couch and take part in something special, something worthwhile. That's right -- it's time for intramurals.

Intramural athletics are our destiny. We were born to don the yellow pennies and run around in the mud. It's what we love. It's what we crave. If we can't play pro sports, or even collegiate sports for that matter, then, by God, let us play intramurals.

The intramural season can be difficult, strenuous and downright savage. But, if taken seriously, will shape character and turn people into something they only dreamed of becoming. It makes athletes. It molds champions. Intramurals are the only way that the little people can play true organized sports and win cool T-shirts.

"Look at me," said senior business major Eugene Yan, "I'm 5-foot-nothin'. A man with my stature could never play Husky football even though it's my dream. Intramurals are the only means of competition guys like me can get."

The desire to compete burns within us all. It's merely a question of who has the guts to lay it all on the line and leave it all on the field. The intramural program provides a safe haven for those who wish to escape reality, if just for a moment, and attempt to bask in the glory of sports.

Sports mirror life in so many ways. A well-played game is full of ups and downs that can make or break a person's spirit in the blink of an eye. But sports also teach us valuable lessons that we carry with us on our journeys into the unknown. It doesn't matter who wins; it's how you play the game, right?

"I hate losing," said senior sociology major Matt Peterson. "You're out there to have fun, but you don't compete to lose. I hate it more than anything."

The intramural experience is a valuable one that can't be recreated. It serves as a gateway into another lifestyle, one that is momentarily laced with pride, joy and valor. When I step onto the flag-football field every Thursday, my everyday concerns are thrust aside for an hour as the task at hand becomes more important than life itself. For when intramural games begin, we are the Cody Picketts and Mendiola sisters of our league. We are the ones that make things happen. And no pro scout can ever say we're not good enough.