Cougars: D Average

With so many high school kids exploring or choosing universities this time of year, it makes me think of my own experience.

Kids today seem so much more focused on academics and achievements than the teens of my generation, and not just here on the competitive North Shore. It seems high school has become all about getting into the best college possible for scholarship opportunities and career advancement. Sure, I knew some high achievers in high school (ahem, Julie), but not many.

Is the pressure to achieve in high school really worth the stress? The teenage years should be academically challenging but not at the cost of spending time with their friends and creating memories.

My main two goals as a teenager were to play on the ballfield as much as possible and hang out with friends all the time. (Oh, I forgot hair. My hair was a big deal too.) As a priority, hard work in school was a distant third for me and my grades suffered.

Most of you are old and need to squint to see such small print from 30 years ago. Let me help with some large print. That’s a 1.949 cumulative high school GPA.

To recap, lots of fun and a D average.

Fast forward three decades and my top three priorities have not changed, but rather, just rearranged.

Play on the ballfield as much as possible and hang out with friends all the time are certainly right up there but hard work now tops the list. (Oh, I forgot hair. My hair is still a big deal too.)

As adults, we trade our GPA and ACT results for W-2 and 1099 results.

Is the pressure to achieve at work really worth the stress? The adult years should be vocationally challenging but not at the cost of spending time with our friends and creating memories.

On Tuesday, we spent the night with our friends playing ball but our defense suffered and we lost 13-11.

To recap, lots of fun and an average D.

We were the visiting team and jumped out to a quick 4-0 first inning lead with hits by Pastor Ted, Joker, Rads JD, and Lipinski. Gulliver’s tallied one to make the score 4-1. In the second inning we dropped three more on our opponent with hits by Joker, Rads, JD, Bobi and Philthy. We held them scoreless in the bottom of the second inning. Cougars up 7-1. We were scoreless in the third, fourth and fifth innings while our rival, with help from our defensive lapses, scored eight over that three inning span. Gulliver’s winning 9-7. In the top of the sixth, we rallied and scored four runs starting with a Flandog/Diamond Dave combo opening the scoring floodgate followed by hits by Pastor Ted, Joker, Rads, JD, Bobi, Philthy and Coffey moving them across the plate. We scored four runs to make it 11-9. Our copycat challenger scored four in the bottom of the sixth inning, which put them ahead by two, 13-11. We could not push any runs across the plate in our last at-bat in the seventh inning. Game over. We could not pull out a victory in Diamond Dave’s first fantastic pitching outing of the year.

Whether you have a D average or an average D, the key to becoming a success is ambition, persistence, and competitiveness.

In the end, the only A I will ever attain is Type A.