Wades Page

The Thing I Carry: Competitiveness

Wade Ransom

I Chose this song because it is our warm up song for football.

Photo by Wade.I chose this photo because it is of me playing football.

It was our biggest football game of the year, and we were beating are rivals the Cleveland Warriors. Looking from the sidelines you could see the stands packed with people yelling and cheering for their team.  It was the last minute of the game; we had the ball and were winning by five points.  With a run play called we fumbled the snap and the Warriors recovered it. The smile on my face had disappeared, and frustration took over.  With a lot of time left on the clock we were going to need to step up and stop them. I grabbed my helmet and ran back out on the field. Spread out wide, they were running a pass play, but with no one to throw to the quarterback kept it and took off to the end zone. Their second touchdown of the game came at the most important time. Our chances of winning relied on one play by are offense. Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock. I was a pendulum, pacing back and forth on the sidelines as time was ticking down. Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock. On a deep pass to our wide open receiver down the field was dropped. URGHT! The buzzer sounded and time had expired and we had lost. Bent over with my hands on my knees, I couldn't believe we had just lost the game. Competitiveness, a 16 year old teenager, was right in my ear whispering, “Your nothing but a loser, maybe you should just quit.” He stood there being his cocky self in his fancy expensive clothes, getting in my mind as if he was better than me. The frustration had built up more and more and so did the water in my eyes.  Not only did I have to think about this for the whole next year I had to shake the hands of those filthy Warriors after the game. I wanted to punch every single one of those kids in the face.  The coaches had nothing to say to us that night, as they were just as pissed.  The walk to the locker was the worst part, everyone trying to talk to you, and seeing all of those Cleveland kids think they now own are school.  Making it there, I sat on the stairs with my head in my lap with the thought of losing in mind and the tears falling down my face. The feeling of not only letting your self down, but everyone else that was there for you.  Being competitive is something that will always be with me.

Thoma. basketball.jpg. Sept 24, 2012. Pics4Learning. 22 Mar 2013 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>

I chose this photo because me and my brother played basketball against each other.

My brother comes into the living room and asks if I want to play some NBA 2K13, and me being bored I agree to play him. The words “Do you want to play 2K13” aren't really heard as it sounds in my house. Here, it sounds more like, “Aye, you trying to get bashed in 2K13”. These simple words mean war, with the winner winning bragging rights. My brother picked his favorite team the ’91 Chicago Bulls, and me having to go with my favorite team the Miami Heat. Being a close game throughout, a little smack talk starts to happen. Losing by a little at half, I needed to come back to win. Towards the end of the game it was tight with both of going back and forth for the lead. More and more smack talk came into the picture as the time was winding down. With a little run by me late in the fourth I was able to hang on and win the game. BAM! He throws the controller down angry that he just lost. We never let anyone lose without them hearing about it for the next week. With frustration he says he wants a rematch and with that chip on my shoulder I agree to play him again. Rematch after rematch we go as we keep beating one another with the loser getting angry wanting to beat the other one. It didn't stop there, next thing you know were outside on are basketball hoop playing one on one and talking more crap to each other. 

I chose this video because its about winning.