I don't remember winning any awards at the end of eighth grade. My production didn't slip, the teachers just liked me less or something. Ninth grade was just a ton of fun. I would gladly relive ninth grade.
By this time I was officially the coolest white guy at Mesa Jr. And that reputation was only gonna grow.
I wanted to do sports, which required 6th hour P.E., because I wanted to run cross country, wrestle and play baseball. I was too late deciding on 6th hour P.E. for football. Outside of football, there were about eight guy 'athletes.' Out of those about eight, I was the only one who wanted to run cross country. Therefore, Mesa Jr. didn't have a boys cross country team that year. I was forced to either change my schedule or play tennis.
I had never given tennis a chance. I think it's great now. It's my fourth favorite sport to watch. I was one of the worst on the team. The matches I played didn't count until after grades came out and all the guys above me flunked out. I did legitimately beat a kid. I think he was from Kino. Good match. Lost the doubles match because Alejandro Rivera sucked it up. I was pretty frustrated to say the least. On the ride over, Coach Arbo told us that if we won he would take us to Pizza Patron. I did my part.
I didn't get to try Pizza Patron until about four years later. Pretty good little place.
So, after both the football and tennis teams failing to produce a victory, it was lookin like another run of the mill year for Mesa Jr. athletics. I don't know how girls cross country and tennis did. I really don't care. At that level, sports with girls playing really are irrelevant.
I decided to try out for basketball before going to wrestling. The coach, James Todd McEvers, was my 3rd hour world history teacher. He liked me in class, so I thought I had a chance. On the first day of tryouts he pulled me, Alejandro Rivera and some other guy aside and basically told us, "You guys suck. Maybe if you keep practicing you can make it next year, but right now you suck too much."
That was tough, but I stuck around. I asked McEvers if I could help out. He liked that idea. By the third day of tryouts he had a pretty good idea of who he wanted. Only, a lot of the guys he wanted stopped showing up. He had 13 guys there that day, three of whom would stop showing up soon. He had us stand on the baseline and told us, "Everyone here is a part of this team. Even Andy." And just like that I was on my first and last basketball team.
