...Mr. Parks...

I don't know Mr. Parks at all, but this is a great remembrance about him in today's Boston Globe. I don't even know if I know anyone who knows him, I may, he was at UMass while I was there.

It's funny because something like this shouldn't strike me emotionally, but reading what she had to say about her band leader I was immediately drawn to my UMass organized sport memories, which always come in the form of my playing days on Zoodisc.

Long passed are the days where I try to justify what UMass Ultimate meant to me, from an athletic or commitment standpoint. I am very much over trying to convince people we took this thing seriously, and we cared, and we were emotional about it.

I had fun with a few teammates this week remembering a brotherly-love type argument I got into with a teammate, and it was hilarious to look back, and it was so heated and passionate at the time, we cared a hell of a lot about that team.

But the point of this post was to recognize a UMass legend - he deserves it, but also to recognize my teammates I played with at UMass, who ultimately became some of my best friends.

The real point of my post is this: I completely forget that having friends you can admire, respect, look up to and draw inspiration from is something I can never take for granted, I'm so completely humbled to be surrounded by some of the best people I could imagine, and while some people only get that type of guidance and leadership from coaches, band leaders, bosses, etc, I get it whenever I need it from my friends - Minutemen, or Lakers alike...