"Nobody's Sparring Tonight!"

Colonel told me that I appeared to be "dragging ass".  I was.  I had to push myself to get into the workout Wednesday night.  No one was using the ring at one point, so I stepped inside to do some shadow boxing.  Focus, I thought to myself, as I worked on my footwork.  Since I changed up my work schedule slightly (no more cleaning on Mondays and Wednesdays), I don't feel as dead tired, but I could still use a lot more energy than I've had lately.

Igor showed up after having been missing a number of times over the past couple of weeks.  I have to watch him whenever he's near the community water bottles.  Igor will put his lips on the bottles.  I've snapped a few times when I've caught him, but he keeps right on doing it.  I seriously considered pouring a full bottle of water over his head tonight in an attempt to get the message across.   But I would have come off looking like some old battleax, so I checked myself.  I said nothing, took the bottle to the washroom, and washed it. 

Matt (on the right) shown in this photo with Franco, told me he feels a lot better standing with his right foot forward and using his right as his jab.  He's not left handed, as some southpaws are.  "I was originally writing with my left hand when I was small, but I was forced to use my right hand instead by a teacher", Matt said.  I understood.  I remember being two years old with a pencil in my left hand.  My mother slapped my left hand, announced I was using the wrong hand, and put the pencil in my right hand.  Both Matt and I concluded that we were probably supposed to be left-handers. 

Later, Alan held the doughnut for Matt to practice his punches.

Amy said that she and her sister Sarah had gone to Hamlin Park over the weekend to get some practice in.  "Bill was asking about you," Amy told me.  I keep making promises to get over there, but I haven't gone yet.  Amy and Sarah were there mid-morning, and it wasn't that packed, even when they left a little over an hour later.  Hamlin Park is open more days than Loyola Park is.  Amy said Hamlin is closed on Tuesdays and Sundays, but is open for a good amount of hours the other days of the week.

Alan looked around to match up people for sparring, but there were no takers, except for me.  "Nobody's sparring tonight," he said.  That's an unusual occurrence, especially if there are enough people around that could spar.  Maybe it was just as well, considering how sluggish I was.

The boxing show at Seward Park was canceled for some reason.  Alan indicated it was the third time it had been canceled.  Those shows aren't easy to reschedule, and many times, they're not.  The shows have to be planned around other activities going on at the field houses where they happen, and there can't be conflicting dates with boxing shows at other field houses. 

I could have also been tired because I sat up watching President Obama's victory speech last night.  I'm glad Romney didn't win.  I kept seeing a future like the one depicted in the book The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood if Romney had got in.  Maybe that's a little too extreme of me, but I was sure glad that I could continue to live under a system where a woman could train at a boxing gym and not be forced into being a housewife or concubine.

The news came that Carmen Basilio, one of my all time favorite boxers, passed away this morning at age eighty-five.  If you get a chance, pull up his fights on YouTube, especially the first one he had against Sugar Ray Robinson.  Basilio was a tough, tough guy.  He would appear from time to time on "Ringside" a boxing history program that aired on ESPN Classic.  Basilio would tell great stories from when he was in the sport.  Basilio also was very opinionated.  I loved to hear what he had to say.