From the Sidelines
Sports reporter
My friend Nick left for the Middle East Tuesday.
He spent Christmas in Washington at Fort Lewis, while his family celebrated 3,000 miles away in Virginia.
He said it was as good as it could have been since he spent it with the same men and women he would be representing his country with in Qatar in less than a week.
Nick and I go back about 10 years. We were living in the same neighborhood in Chester, Va. He had a mullet, and my voice sounded like Mike Tyson on helium.
We were on the wrestling team together. We played every sport imaginable in the neighborhood. And even though I moved to Kansas eight years ago, we've kept in touch ever since.
He's been to Kansas twice, and we hung out twice a year when I flew back to the East Coast to visit my dad, step-mom, and brother.
Now, at 23 years old, and with a college degree, Nick is heading overseas to represent his country.
Despite growing up in a military family, he had no interest in joining the Army.
He graduated from Radford University in 2003, and took a job in Richmond at a graphic design company. After eight months, he decided to just do it. He told his boss he could no longer work because he was heading to basic training at Fort Benning, Ga.
The nine weeks at boot camp meant no girls, television, Internet, sports, or anything else having to do with the outside world.
He said I had to keep him up to date on the sports scene. While he was there Phil Mickelson won his first Masters championship, and my Detroit Pistons became NBA Champs. I was always eager to send him sports news, and a little disappointed when he told me he already knew about some of the NBA playoffs because recruits got to watch TV toward the end of training.
Through it all, sports was bringing us together once again, even though we generally don't like the same teams.
He's a Dallas Cowboys fan, I root for the Washington Redskins. He likes Virginia Tech, while I side with Virginia.
We both like the Atlanta Braves, although we pretty much can predict their season before it happens: 100 wins. Lose in October. Easy.
While he's in Qatar he'll be reading the Marion County Record (albeit probably two weeks late every time) and checking up on scores of a high school team he knows nothing about.
But it will be one of his few contacts to the United States. Yes, they have Internet there, but a newspaper will feel like home.
He's getting a subscription to the Richmond Times-Dispatch as well, but the Record will be playing a small part in making him feel at home. And hopefully so will I.
Since I'm starting to approach the too sappy stage, I'll stop here and talk about something manly.
Did anyone see that Monster Truck show on ESPN the other day? Cars were being crushed, drivers were getting whiplashed, it was great.
OK, back to Nick.
While most of his time will be spent repairing tanks, and possibly fending off the enemy, he'll have some down time to sit back and chill.
When he does, hopefully he'll be reading the paper, and thinking about what it will be like to be back in the states.
Either that, or wondering why in the heck he ever had a mullet.
