99 down, 1 to go

In the 98 games I'd played for the Demons before today, I've never seen a footy ground take so much rain and stay open, I've never been so happy to be so sore, I've never worn goggles in a game, and I've never heard a crowd cheer so loud for a turnover.

Pretty much the only sports grounds open in Sydney this weekend have been the SCG, the SFS, Olympic Stadium, and Mike Kenny Oval in Cherrybrook. The rain fell almost non-stop in Sydney from Monday to game time, but after telling club President Pete Campbell that I'd play a game in the car park if it meant my brother in Perth and my sister in London weren't flying over to watch me play game 99, strings were pulled and the game went ahead.

After a walk to the middle to inspect the water damage the ground had sustained with the J-Bone, we went back in the rooms and I put my new sports glasses on which meant I could see the footy...a liberating experience. After a soggy warm-up, the game started and the Dees were playing like their hadn't been a drop of rain for months. We were throwing our bodies in and working hard, we just weren't working smart.

With my new glasses, I felt like I was contributing - tackling, kicking off the ground, shepherding and deft touches to teammates. in the most miserable conditions there's beer since the SCG on Friday night, there was nowhere I would rather have been. And then I got a kick, and the crowd went wild.

Hoops busted through a tackle at half forward, and looped a handball to me at centre-half forward, and because I could see, I caught the ball and threw it on my left towards the goals. The crowd erupted, and I thought the ball might be a sneaky chance of clearing the pack and skidding through for a goal, but reality disagreed with me and the ball fell 20 metres short and straight into the arms of one an opposition defender.

So that's 99 down, and 1 to go. It's hard for me to describe what this comeback has meant to me, but that attempt will come after 100, so stay tuned, and go you Dees.

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For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/