September 10, 1983. Absolutely beautiful outside, about 90 degrees with a very light breeze. I'm standing on the sideline dressed in my game uniform of Cardinal and Gold for the first time besides the team picture and I am about to live my dream of actually playing football for US freakin C. With my helmet and mouthpiece in my hand, I am watching our team struggle on offense on our first drive. That was to be expected that day as the Florida Gators were our opponent and we were both ranked in the top 10 in the Country.
2nd and 9 and we pick up a couple yards on a run off the right side. We ran the ball directly into the arms of All American Wilbur Marshall. He played for years with the Chicago Bears including a Super Bowl. He had an off day with only 18 un assisted tackles... yikes!
It's at that moment, when it is 3rd and 6 when I start this thing I do and that I have done since I can remember. My world slows down almost like you hit a button on a VCR. I look around at the people around me, the setting, take in the sounds, smells and really feel everything that is going on in great detail. I can tell you 27 years later who I was standing next to, conversations that coach's were having and even that I was having issues with my right sock as the elastic wouldn't keep the damn thing up. I get this sense of calm, sometimes I actually get chills or a rush of warmth, it varies every time.
This is what I call "the moment before the moment." It is that time when you are fortunate enough to know that a significant action in your life is about to take place. Not generalizations like "today is a big day" or "I have a date tonight" happenings, but the actual minutes and seconds prior to that action. The moment leading up to a significant event that you are aware is about to happen. Big things happen to us all the time but rarely are we aware that it is upon us.
Sean Salisbury's pass to Tim Ware sails long and out of bounds. I am intense, pumped, and every other word you can think of to explain the excitement that I am feeling but I am not in the least bit nervous. I am waiting for the coaches to yell, "kick it" or "punt it" and I do mean yell. They never speak the words "punt the ball away" in a happy tone. That is a topic for another day but it's not my fault that your offensive coordinator called a play action pass when everyone in the stadium knew it was coming. Why yell at the punter? I digress.
I have my helmet on, not sure how it got there, but it is on and the chin strap is locked and loaded. I am standing next to Mark Boyer and Eric McGee. It's 4th and 6 on our own 36 yard line. I am waiting for coach Tollner and Coach Purnell to say the words that again everyone knows in the stadium are coming. He finally turns and shrieks "kick the God Damn Ball." Suddenly, like rain hitting a parched desert, every coach is now acting as if the World has come to an end and in some tribal chaotic chant, they all are screaming "PUNT, PUNT, PUNT!!!"
Everyone is running around in hyper speed but to me, it feels like a dream. It is calm and tranquil. I swear on my dog (who everyone knows is loved) that I had a smile on my face. I trotted onto the field and stood 15 yards from the line of scrimmage with no one around me in a scene that Pixar should consider re-creating. I reach down and pick at the grass, not to check the wind like I am about to hit a sand wedge, but I wanted to know what the grass on the field of the LA Memorial Coliseum felt like. This is the place where Olympians, pro sports teams, Marcus Allen, OJ and Anthony Davis have created history. This is sports hallowed ground. For the record, it felt like grass. I look up at the stands filled with a welcoming home crowd of about 92,000 or so. I know this is a nationally televised game so another few million are watching across the Country. My mom and dad are there as well as my sister and my fraternity brothers. I felt a focus come over me as it is about time to do what I came to USC to do.
Still in a slow version of reality, I raise my arms out in front of me to signal I am ready for the ball, I’m thinking out loud, “let’s do this thing.” The noise level is high. I can't hear the snap count but I have done this before hundreds of times in practice and in other games so I know when the head of my personal protector (yes I am that special to have a personal protector) starts moving up and down and his shoulders move in time, he is calling for the ball to be snapped. I take a regular breath as I am not breathing heavily. My long snapper's ass drops just a little and the ball rips towards me. Everything is still moving slowly, this is the moment, fantasy becomes reality. I realize that I am playing for USC; I am on the field for the Trojans. If I miss the ball or nail it, none of that can take from me the FACT that I, Troy Richardson, am a football player for USC. Sounds dramatic but for me, it is the realization of a dream. I take my first of 2 and a half steps, catch the ball which is perfectly snapped and turn it to the right position for impact. I drop the ball and swing my leg almost as hard as I can and whomp... it sails away in a perfect spiral. That was the moment, the moment of impact that brought everything back to full speed. The increase of the noise level in the stadium confirmed what I already knew from the feel of the collision of the ball and my foot.
In the extra time I took, just a little bit longer then one normally takes as we do what we do, I created a special imprint on my memory like a video of a Christmas morning as a child coming out to see what Santa left. I don’t know when or why I started doing this, but I have been doing this as far back as I can remember.
I have hundreds of these mental video clips and not all moments are great, as in getting fired from a job. That was not a good moment but still, the understanding that I was at a significant time in my life and that I was able to register that and take in my surroundings and emotions is special to me. This adds to the memory of the actual event 10 fold. I am sure this is starting to sound like the ramblings of a man on mushrooms but it is something that I really enjoy.
Who I am now is a melting pot of what has happened to me over the last 45 years. Good, bad or indifferent, our souls are gifts from God. Our memories are our compellation of our life’s for us individually. They are what makes us…us.
Try it. The next time you are going into a job interview, making a presentation or even going to one of your kid’s soccer games. Take 5 seconds to look around at the faces of the people there, the setting and check your senses for what you are feeling. Suck it all in like a bonus of life from God above and store it in your head.
It’s your moment, enjoy it!
Fight On!
Troy
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