SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ–Good afternoon everyone. I know that the GMC Hoops Regular Season and Post-Season play has been over for a week or so know, but I wanted to post this to let everyone know that I’m doing better, and have been active again. Since the end of January I’ve been out and about at games from time to time. To be quite honest, I’ve missed it a great deal, but it was a choice I had to make. I made the decision to get off the trail for a while on my own, and not in response to anyone else’s suggestions. It was my choice.
While at the last game that I saw prior to taking time off, a contest at St. Joseph’s between the then top ranked Falcons and J.P. Stevens, I wasn’t feeling well. I was all out of sorts, and not comfortable. I had a tough day at work, and other issues had taken a toll on my health. The job has been very difficult to get adjusted to, especially in light of the fact that the economy has not been doing well at all, and there hasn’t been a lot of work to do at times. Being on the job for less than a year, I had a lot of concerns with my productivity at work, and that has caused great worry.
On top of that, I had personal difficulties that began in the Spring of 2008, and carried over into the new year. To be honest, I was quite amazed at myself that I was able to carry on with basketball through the summer and fall months. There were times when I would be going to a game, and literally trying to fight tears. In December, things went from bad to worse when I had problems getting my Verizon FIOS set up at my home. This on top of all the other things in my life made the strain unbearable for several days. I eventually got everything up and working with the FIOS setup.
I began to go see some games on the very last day of January. On that day, I saw five games including two JV contests, and three varsity contests. However, I still didn’t feel that comfortable. I felt that it wasn’t the right time to return to action. I continued to monitor things through the papers and the radio. During this period, I thought about showing up at a game, but decided not to. It wasn’t until the 2009 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament began that I started feeling like getting back into this again. I went out to a Preliminary Round game and a Round of 16 contest. Yet, I still felt on edge. I felt like I needed to be doing something. Yes, you guessed it. I had become so accustomed to writing notes, and collecting stats that I found myself overanxious.
So, I decided to bring the camera to the 2009 GMCT Final Four at South Brunswick High School. It was really great to see some part of the final week of the tournament. This year marked the first time since 2002 that I had not appeared at the Elite Eight at Middlesex County College. Unfortunately, I had to work on both Saturday and Sunday that weekend so I really couldn’t go. I followed up my appearance at the GMCT Semis with a visit to East Brunswick High School the next night to see the Final Four of the 2009 EBHS/GMC JV Tournament, which featured Piscataway High School against Cardinal McCarrick in the opener, and Monroe versus Hillsborough in the nightcap. Then, on Friday, I went to the Perth Amboy/GMC Freshmen Tournament Consolation and Championship before heading over to the RAC to see the 2009 GMCT Final.
Since then, I have been out and about to various state tournament games, and feeling much better. I want to thank everyone for their postings in the guestbook, and in e-mail. I really appreciated the support and well wishes.