Sometimes one’s mouth sprints into the unknown darkness of life before the mind even considers leaving the starting block. When the mind catches up and observes the foolishness invariably caused by speaking without thinking, there’s often not a rock large enough to hide the embarrassment.
Yours truly has written in this space how hockey was doomed to fail not just in Eastern Jackson County, but in the metro area in general. After all, it’s a sport played in the cold where heavily padded men beat each other up legally. For a few hours on Friday the community responded with a giant pie in this columnist’s mug.
Nearly 5,800 folks attended the Missouri Mavericks first home game at the sparkling new Independence Events Center. That’s about 4,600 more than I expected, especially since Eastern Jack has little to no youth or adult intramural hockey programs or leagues of any significant size. Further, folks seem to have adopted the team as their own, even more of a surprise since few if any here had knowledge of any of the current players before Oct. 1, 2009.
While you nod and smile about my admission, take a deep breath. Friday’s contest was the first game for a new team in a brand spanking new building. This hockey experiment could still go belly up in the future. Still, for one day yours truly is willing to stuff his large mouth full of humble pie and keep it moving.
On a more personal note, yours truly experienced another foot in the mouth moment last week in my professional world (Nope, it had nothing to do with anything you saw on television).
A very kind woman had asked your favorite writer to edit a piece she wrote about a personal achievement. Instead of being a good editor and simply reviewing her work for grammar, syntax and spelling I decided to save her a few words by condensing the lead paragraph.
Big mistake. The meaning of the paragraph was changed ever so slightly and the kind woman felt robbed of any credit she deserved. I privately grumbled that she was being self-serving and selfish. I felt like tossing her work in the trash.
Yes, that was mistake No. 2. I ran into the nice gal a day later and she was crying. It is an understatement to say she has a lot on her mind. The personal achievement came during her mother’s last days among us and carried special meaning. Also, she had just suffered a major setback in her relationship with her spouse. She was looking forward to sharing the work with her ailing father.
The loud scream you thought you heard this week was yours truly banging his head against a brick wall repeatedly for being a jerk.
Think before you speak. It’s an adage that never gets old.
