I'm All Grow'd Up...

I hate the NFL. I hate Rex Grossman. I hate the fact that I am the ONLY person on the planet that wasn’t looking at Marvin Harrison’s feet and was instead looking at the ball moving around in his hands THE WHOLE FN TIME!!!! HE DIDN’T MAKE THE GODDAMN CATCH, WHO CARES IF HIS FEET WERE DOWN!!!!!! I hate that Cedric Benson got hurt so early. I hate that we did not use any of the momentum that we had early in the game. I hate that everybody loves Peyton Manning so fricking much. I hate that I didn’t bet more on the under but loaded up on the Bears.

I have been a Bears fan as long as I remember. I am over the top nuts about them. When Walter Payton died, may God rest his soul, my dad called me to see if I had heard. When I answered the phone I was already so torn up I couldn’t talk. He had my mom come over from work to check on me because they were so worried. I was 20. I am that kind of a fan. Scary, huh?

I lived and died with each miscue. I wanted to puke when Rex fumbled a snap. I did puke when he did it again. This was undoubtedly one of the 5 worst days of my life. Really.

But you know what I really hate?

I REALLY hated looking at my 7 month old daughter, Ava, dressed up in her Bears cheerleading outfit sitting on my wife Amber’s lap. I hated seeing Amber wearing my 3 sizes too big #54 jersey because I asked her to. I hated looking down at my Walter Payton jersey that Amber gave me for my wedding gift (told you I am nuts). I hated it because I was so busy feeling so bad about something so small when I was surrounded by people so important to me.

Then something happened. I stopped hating. I realized that while today sucked worse than getting teamed up with the fat kid for piggyback races in gym class, it was still ok.

It is amazing that it took me 27 years, but it finally happened. Poker has grown me up, seriously. I have learned that when bad shit happens (you called me with WHAT????) you have to get over it in order for good shit to happen.

So this weeks lesson? Tilt, both in poker and in life, will get you nowhere. Quit feeling sorry for yourself, dry your tears, and get back to work. Without a "can do" attitude you will fail at everything. And poker is the least of it!

Did I mention I hate Rex Grossman?