Monday, March 21, 2011

This Game

I know the posts on this blog are usually pretty lighthearted, but this one is going to be a tad different. So, if you came here looking for a laugh, you might want to stop reading. 

Last night as I was lying in my hotel room, I found myself thinking back on all of the locker room conversations that focused on one question: why do we put ourselves through this? Why do we continue this love-hate relationship with a game that has humbled us more times than we can count? 

I couldn't sleep, the thoughts and conversations were too much...so I started writing. I wrote down my thoughts, hoping to find peace of mind. After 10 minutes of writing and rewriting, this is what I came up with. Some of you may not agree with it, but these are my thoughts.


This Game

We give you everything: our hearts, our souls, our blood, our tears. And for what? The dream of the bright lights and big stage? They've told us forever that, "with hard work you can accomplish anything." But you show us otherwise. You show us that sometimes no matter how hard we work, we aren't good enough; no matter how hard we try, we fail. But still we come back to you, wanting more. For even the darkest of days cannot hold back the shine of your big stage. We give you everything. Silently hoping that someday, you'll give back.     

- Shane Minks

Friday, March 4, 2011

The Land of 30 Mondays

                Growing up, I hated to fly.  And when I say hated, I mean it; my plane was ALWAYS the one that was going to crash.  Period.  (Maybe that had something to do with the fact that I was a small town kid who, “wasn’t used to those dang-flabbit ‘flying machines,’” but who knows).  Now that I’m older, I’ve come to enjoy and even appreciate flying: the alone time at my gate, the views from the plane, it’s all actually somewhat relaxing.  

Now I know this seems like a random piece of information (which you should be used to, since that’s all this blog is truly made up of), but I promise it is relevant to my situation right now.  As you may have guessed, I’m sitting at the airport waiting on my flight to Spring Training in Florida.  And as usual, I’m sitting at my gate two hours early (this has become somewhat of a tradition between my parents and I, they always think I’m going to miss my flight and insist on getting me to the airport hours before I need to, “just in case.”  I don’t know, maybe I’ll understand when I have kids).  Anyways, like I said, I’m sitting here at my gate with nothing to do, so I thought, “Hey! This would be a good time to be productive!”  But then my natural instincts took over and I decided to update everyone on my life via blog instead (being productive just seems so boring). 

Ok, so on with the update.  As I stated before, I’m on my way to Port Charlotte, Florida, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays’ Spring Training Facility.  It’s hard to say exactly how I’m feeling right now, it’s a mixture: a little nervous, not knowing what to expect; excited to be back playing ball again; and anxious to figure out where I’ll be spending the season (I’m hoping to skip Low-A Bowling Green and make the High-A Port Charlotte squad, but I’ll be ok with either: anything is better than a real job).  Now, I said I don’t know what to expect because, well, I don’t.  All I’ve heard are horror stories about the early mornings and long hours you have to endure during the stretch of “thirty straight Mondays.”  I’m not really sure how much I buy into all the stories, but I guess you never know (I didn’t think fall practice in college would be that rough either until I ran into Coach Childress and Coach Deggs: they managed to prove me wrong each of my four years at Texas A&M).  I guess all I can do is just hope for the best and prepare for the worst; either way I’ll make it through.

Well that’s all I’ve got for now, but be on the lookout for updates as I make my way through Spring Training, I’ll try to give y’all as much insight about the goings-on as I can (I’m not sure how “top-secret” everything is yet, but I’ll do my best to pull some strings).  Also, if you enjoy my blog feel free to follow me on twitter (@BossMinks) or take a peek at my good friend Kevin Gonzalez’s blog as he explains the ins-and-outs of catching at Texas A&M (trust me, it’s pretty entertaining: http://v4.texags.com/Stories/1578).  Until next time, “Y’all be good.”