These days when's specialty is needed my friends, know I am just a phone call away. When I get those calls or emails though, it makes me feel pretty fucking awesome. Over the last twenty years or so it has varied as to what talent I am actually called to provide.
In high school if you need a yard or two in back yard football, you'd call the Bill-dozer in. Hand him the ball and let him pin-ball around and run over some people. Babe Ruth Baseball you needed a bunt laid down you called on the kid.
In my early years of college it was a big stick needed for the inter mural softball team, Billy b was your guy. In the late years of college, sad to say, if you wanted to get stoned and watch some poor freshman or sophomore get hazed and laugh you ass off, you called Mr. b. I wasn't the greatest hazer ever but I was effective, and loud. Really, really loud, people who know me in California think they know me as loud, they don't. You haven't really heard me loud until I'm in your face asking why your eye balling me, and I scream fuck you into your face at an octave few other can match. Again, not really proud of the last, but I filled a role and I made people laugh.
During my career I've filled in as a specialist in various roles. You need to compress a huge amount of data and make heads or tails of it so you can sell a company? You call in Billy b. You need spreadsheet help? You call in Billy b. You want revenue help or deliverable help? You call on Billy b. I know my excel and revenue recognition well. That is who I am and what I do. That's my expertise.
Now I know that's not what most people think when they think a ringer. Most people are thinking about getting your Retired MLB player neighbor join your church because you sure could use him on the softball team. Or when you want your little league team to win so bad you falsify documents so you can have a 16 year old play on your team. Ringer in the truest sense is a person who enters a competition under false pretense to get a competitive edge.
I think it is also in more modern times used to describe calling on an expert or a specialist. Therefore when I tell you I've been asked to be a ringer for the second time in the last four years you'll pick up what I throwing down.
The original call came around 2 pm and my friend MM was worried about RG because RG is in the hospital. Something about alien babies (I jest, bad infection, not good) and she's still there:( towards the end of the conversation she mentions she might need my help. However being busy and worrying about my roomy I didn't think much about it.
That's when I got the ultimate ringer message from Coach Marc "hey, your swimming for MM at Pac Grove. You're welcome!!!" And just like that Billy b is a ringer again. For the 2nd time in four years he has been called on to swim the Olympic distance swim at Pacific Grove because a friend needs him.
That is a pretty awesome feeling! That people think of you when they need a swimmer. They think get me the black fish, or black reaper or whatever Billy b is calling himself these days. We need someone to crank out a mile swim and we know that guy can do it.
I'm sure I'm making this a little more dramatic than it was, but who cares. I feel really awesome about it. I feel that way because no matter what I know I'm a great fucking swimmer. I know that I'm can do it. If nothing else the kid can swim. So, I'm stoked! Really stoked to be back in at PG. Now we start to build swim yards as we build walk miles. Again we have a purpose. Again we rise to the occasion.
Billy b swimming ringer. I like it, you know that I do.
Let me ask u something. How awesome will the world be when I believe in everything I do as much as I believe in my swimming. It's going to be fucking awesome and the day is coming. It's so close. I can see it.
It's to time to put aside the old grudges. The old hates. It's time to to forgive. Ask for forgiveness. It's time to move on and grow. It's time. It's time to be more than a triathlon swim ringer! It's time to be me. Just me. It's time for the Black Reaper to rise...
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