the American football spiral

Throughout my life,
I've been told many times
I throw a beautiful spiral

I never was one to "play" football:
daily weights, long practices,
drug tests, tackles, ocassional concussions.
There's team-work, excitement,
girls and glory, too.
but, overall,
it wasn't my cup of tea

But the football itself is beautiful:
tightly stitched
smooth tough leather,
those familiar white grips
always just where they should be

I couldn't count the days:
sunny, sweltering,
beautiful autumn
or biting winder wind,
that I spent passing with pig-skin
with various boys and men,
remembered and forgotten

One was a very old neighborhood friend:
now already a veteran
and on the front-lines of Iraq.
He often said
I should go out for the team
and asked me to teach him
to spiral

Now, that's a complicated question.
There are a number of factors
that my muscles understood
better than my mind

Today, I'm half an invalid:
bad back, bad neck,
bad psyche

I haven't tried in a while
but I believe I could still throw
a straight, strong, twirling spiral...
not as far as I used to,
but so what

Over the months and years,
I did manage to teach my army friend
how to throw a spiral:
not as good as mine,
but pretty damn good,
in the same ball-park
(he never could teach me
how to shoot)

I don't remember what I told him,
though.
I think it starts with your
fingers properly placed on the laces.
Then a conservative gauge
of the distance, angles,
and your own strength.

Then, something to do
with an early release,
each finger
brushing and guiding the leather,
PRECISELY,
like Monet's might guide his brush

The most important is
the index
as it's the last
to touch the ball
(however briefly)
taking the last chance to correct
any flaw of angle or velocity,
giving it that wind-proof zip,
making the difference between
good and excellent,
fast or faster,
catcheable or hard-not-to-catch

It's something else,
the feel of the ball leaving
your hand,
spiraling into pre-determined control

oh, and you can't look too soon
or you won't like what you see.
To throw a good spiral,
you need confidence
and true confidence
usually comes with work and experience:
passion and perspiration

kind of like poetry