The drop of a ball

FRENZY a Daniel Jones story

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I do believe that different paths are laid out before us and the choices we make, and sometimes not, will decide what direction our life will follow.

Sometimes it might be a hard choice which we have spent a lot of time thinking about all the pros and cons of a certain decision before we decide what we are going to do. Sometimes it is an action that can be taken in a split second without us knowing at the time what an important event it was.

But there is the odd occasion that no matter what choice we make you get the feeling that all you can do is cross your fingers, and then hope for the best; that a greater force than yourself will give you a helping hand.

A good example of this was the other Saturday when the drop of a football changed events. For my regular readers around the world you will know that I am a football fan of Norwich City F.C http://www.canaries.co.uk/. The team had experienced a terrible run of form losing four games on the trot 4.1 then 3.1 then 4.0 and then got totally stuffed at Manchester City 7/0.

The team was fighting in the relegation zone. The manager had spent 27 million pounds of the clubs money on new players, and all there was to show for it was the worst goal scoring tally in the premier league. From the frenzy of talk on the Internet, and media, the general feeling was that if Norwich were to loose their next game then the manager should lose his job.

We had to play West Ham a newly promoted team still made up of players from the lower leagues; also they hadn't won a game away all season; had only scored one more goal than Norwich, and because of injuries they had no strikers to use. We had the advantage of playing at out home ground at Carrow road with nearly twenty seven thousands supporters packed into the stadium for the match.

After 45 minutes the referee blew his whistle for half time and the Norwich players trudged into the tunnel with their heads down to the sound of booing from the stands because the team was losing 1/0. The half time talk among the crowd was that Chris Haughton was heading for the chopping board. To say the first half performance of the team was dispiriting would be an understatement.

So there it is! The path was clearly marked! But, and like I say there is always a but. At the start of the second half the ball was floating in the air within the West Ham penalty box, and their keeper jumped up to catch it. There was no pressure, no one even took a second glance until that is when the keeper fumbled the ball, and it dropped through his arms. It bounced on the grass and as he dived to collect it he knocked into a Norwich striker who went for the stray ball at the same time.

The referee blew his whistle and gave Norwich a penalty.

The Norwich player took the penalty, even at this stage there is only a 50/50 chance the ball would go into the net, but on this occasion the goal was scored. Now it was the turn of the West Ham players to drop there heads, and they did, because Norwich got a second wind which pushed them on to win 3.1. The Norwich team walked off the pitch with their heads held high to the cheers of the crowd, and Chris Haughton is still the manager.

So there it is, just a drop of the ball, and a few simple seconds that changed the whole course of somebodies life. Chris could now be looking not just for a new job, but also a new home, a new set of friends etc, etc, etc. You never know when the ball will drop in your life just like John the plumber when he was told he had cancer, and you never know which way the ball will drop.

Will it drop in your favour or will bounce against you?

Who knows? Well I don't so I'm just going to enjoy as much of life as I can; even if on occasions I just can't be bothered to do anything, just like last Friday.

Regards
Mark