Analyze This: The Ringers

There I was, standing just inside the entrance of a Junior High school somewhere. It wasn't a place I've ever been before, but pretty typical none the less... Dark brick walls, large windows with stainless steel mullions looking into the Main Office, heavy orange doors to the outside flanked by wire-reinforced glass... A wide flight of stairs led off into another area of the school.

I guess I was standing in what could be called the foyer or main hall... Anyway, on this particular occasion, there were a number of folding tables set up, some with papers strewn across them, others piled high with file boxes. Evidently, there was some sort of Sign-Up going on, as people were lining up to speak to a girl at one of the tables, then scrawling their names on a sheet of paper.

Suddenly, I found myself surrounded by faces that I haven't seen in over a decade. They belonged to the Men's and Women's Volleyball Teams from my days in College. I have to say, I went to a pretty small college, so I immediately recognized the vast majority of them. The only difference was a change in their uniforms (which they were wearing)... Instead of the snazzy white V-necks with blue collars from 1990, the wore black T-shirts with white volleyball logos on the left breast. Very professional looking.

One of the guys approached me with the expected, "Hey! Haven't seen you in a long time!" I turned to see MW (name withheld, initials revealed), a guy that I also used to play a lot of foosball with. He told me that they were all there to participate in the Volleyball Tournament, which I guess was a part of whatever everybody else had been signing up for. Naturally, I thought this was a little odd... a bunch of full-grown adults competing against Junior High kids... Talk about a Slaughter-Fest! I could see a group of people gathering in the Main Office already, pointing at the black-clad warriors and whispering.

Before I could respond, he went on to tell me that he had been reading my blog lately, and the whole team was considering using it as some sort of forum. I didn't quite understand how they proposed to do that, but I was flattered (to say the least) that they had been reading my blog! So, even though it wouldn't be the least bit fair, I told him I would go talk to the people in charge about letting them play in the Tournament.

As I approached the cluster of people peering out through the Office window... I woke up.

What was that about?!?