Scraped Up

Alan was shaking his head about Igor Wednesday night.  "You can't get mad at him," he said.  I had hardly started dialing the numbers of the combination lock on my locker when Igor started bugging me about putting his watch inside it.  He always leaves the gym early, but by the time he was packing up, I was waiting for the bell to ring to spar a third round with Brandy.  "I can't get it now," I told him as I gave him a "what the hell?" look. I know that I waste energy being annoyed with Igor, but then, I'm also too old to keep dealing with nonsense out of grown men.

Speaking of men, the women dominated the gym again.  In addition to Alan and Igor, Josh came in.  Earlier in the day, Professor asked me via Facebook who in the gym was signed up for the Golden Gloves.  When I told him Brandy was the only one, he was surprised.

Alan sparred with Brandy, but he was being careful, as his hand is not quite 100% yet.  Inbetween rounds, Alan asked me why hadn't I applied for coaching jobs within the Chicago Park District.  I explained that I did when Steve left in 2008, but at the time, I didn't have a coach's license.  "You could probably get in, as there are no women coaching in the park district, and being a black woman, too," Alan pointed out.  Unfortunately, openings for boxing coaches don't come up often in the park district.  The last one I saw was for Simons Park about a couple of years ago when Johnny Heard retired.  I still feel that I'm a little green at coaching, despite of the fact that I watched Steve for six years, and nowadays, I listen to Alan when he's giving pointers to others.  But I would love to have a job coaching boxing if I could find one, especially now when I could really use the money. 

Alan stepped out after a couple of rounds, and I got in.  Brandy "The Fine Girl" (that's Alan's boxer nickname for her) comes after her opponents like she did me, they're going to have a hard time trying to take her out.  She broke me off something, as we used to say in the 'hood.  I was cracked in the head several times with hooks, I caught a hook to my left side, and I was popped in the mid-section.  Another hit threw me off balance, and I rolled on my back onto the canvas.  Alan helped me to my feet.  I kept thinking, "Keep the hands up, move the head, and focus!"  As usual, there were a few times when I didn't take my own advice.  During one of those times, Brandy's right hand came straight across my upper lip.

I knew I had been cut.  It doesn't happen often -- which is surprising considering how much I spar -- but sometimes it does.  Brandy and I were talking immediately after that last round.  "You're bleeding a little," she said.  "I'm okay.  I'll take care of it in a minute," I said.  I went down to the women's washroom and wiped the blood away.  "I'll put some Neosporin on it when I get home," I thought to myself, not knowing that I had none in the house.  I'll have to buy some tomorrow.

Alan had just mentioned Oscar the other day, and guess who showed up tonight.  I heard Oscar say he would try to come in more often.

Brandy's preliminary fight at the Golden Gloves is scheduled for March 23rd, which gives her a couple more weeks to train.  "But I wanted to stop dieting!" she said.  She didn't have that many pounds to lose, which was a good thing.  Brandy was hoping her fight would happen on March 8th.  I understand.  All that adrenaline builds up before a fight, and one just wants it to start as soon as possible.