Another One of Life’s Darkest Moments By Noel Shumann
D
uring my high school military years, I was a boxer. My freshman year I found out that troop B was the regimental champion Weekends, our only time off, were great, but we couldn’t leave campus. To help keep the cadets happy, a boxing match was scheduled, and I was part of it. Most high schools in the US had canceled boxing as it was too brutal of a sport for the American psyche. Therefore, compared to a freshman in high school just wasn’t a fair match. When I saw my opponent for that Saturday, it didn’t instill
women was trying to get into the ring. She yelled, “Get my boy out of the ring!” The referee stood by the corner to talk to her and said “ma’am, I can’t do that. Before he might have been a boy, but once he got into the ring, he became a man.” A lot of the crowd heard that comment and there was an immediate chant of “mama’s boy, mama’s boy”. I couldn’t help but think this was one of the biggest messes I have ever been in. Truly a dark moment in my life and there was no light at the end of the tunnel to be found. To make things worse, Mickey began to blame all of this on me. around, and you have to stop letting him do that. If he hits you on the top of the head one more time, you hit him between the legs and hit him hard.” “I can’t do that; it’s illegal”, I said. Mickey exclaimed “what in the heck do you think is happening
in both maturity and height. To make things worse, my take me back to the barracks after it was all said and done. His stars before I had any time to load my guns. My corner man Mickey (my coach between rounds) yelled out immediately that it was an illegal punch because in boxing you can’t hit a man on top of the head. My opponent’s corner man was yelling back answering the verbal match to convince the referee of its legality. I was kind of proud of Mickey as he reminded me of the movie Rocky and his corner man. As I
corner man. ” My mother had now succeeded in getting through the ropes and into the ring where all the action was happening. The entire audience had picked up on the chant and “mama’s boy” was heard throughout the arena. The captain in charge that this will be the end of me. I’ve got the captain who is getting ready to give me a lecture about my mother crawling into the ring, and my corner man about to quit on me. The referee realized the ring was getting real crowded and raised
needing a shave and was not putting up with anyone’s guff.
to the chaos. The captain and his assistant were doing their
about throwing the illegal punches.
were either chanting or laughing. Finally, they got the ring cleared to start round two. My opponent hit me in the head one more time. I put the hardest uppercut I could throw right
hated to let them down by letting my opponent have his way with me. Just when I thought I was feeling the pressure, it got worse. I looked down from the ring and saw my mother who was supposed to be 300 miles away. She was wearing a heavy coat carrying an umbrella and two shopping bags walking towards me. I knew I was in trouble when she started climbing the stairs to the elevated ring. She made herself comfortable by hanging her coat and hat on the ring corner pole. As she worked her way through the ring ropes, the
been to a boxing match and you see a low blow, the recipient of that usually bends over double in pain. My opponent did better than that, he hit the canvas squirming like a snake that my best to imitate David after conquering Goliath. In the deep recess of my brain, I knew that if that guy got up, he was not only going to make me dizzy, he was going to decapitate me. My mother, the Captain and his assistant, and the two corner
68 GML - October 2020
