nationals -6- day three – shoot off
friday night at the stadium skeet field there was a shoot out of the top 14 guys in the world. it was too amazing to see for the shooting and the weirdness of the event itself, not only were the targets literally the hardest that could be thought of, true pairs, 40-50 yards out, doing crazy things, but in the middle of the hard ass targets, they set off bottle rockets, blew air horns, let balloons go and put pumpkins along the rabbit path, hit a pumpkin, pay $20 to charity as a penalty, it was ridiculous….
waiting to watch this, the announcer came on, there was to be a shoot out in each class for free cases of ammo in varying amounts. 6 people from each class to shoot it out. sitting there listening to the other class names being read, i somehow knew it was coming, but tried to block it out, as cool as it would be to be in a shoot out (i never have), i dreaded hearing my name, then it came, C class – jonathan saunders – seeming random (really, how?) out of the 150 or so in my class, my name got called, i got up from the bleachers and ran to the car, got my gear, got the shoot out field. there were maybe 100-200 peeps standing around to watch, 6 people, head to head, 10 targets, 5 pairs, everyone shoots the same, any ties, it keeps going. shit. why today, of all days? will fennell (big time pro shooter) handed me free sponsor shells to shoot, here we go, a left to right crosser and a trap riser, FUCK, why a trap, i missed like 50 of these all day long today, FUCK.
guy one went, 8 of 10, guy two, 9 of 10, guy three, 10 of 10, lady four, 7 of 10, me, 6 of 10, i dunno what the last guy got, i knew i lost 3rd place, the last spot that mattered and was packing to leave the area in front of all 400-600 eyeballs.
dammit. to top it off, will fennel called me ‘big guy’ as i left – he meant well of course, but i hate being called big guy, specially at this event, i am tiny at this event compared to most.
so i went back to watch the top dudes in the world duke it out among the fireworks/pumpkins/balloons, they make this look so fucking easy, it isn’t, it’s FUCKING hard, just like everything else.
i think at this point, i have a better chance of the cover of vogue, the NYT mag and VF, all the same month (right, hold your breath) then i do at getting any of the goals i set for the week accomplished.
when i drove away from the complex tonight, tears literally left my eyes. i am 34 and crying because i cannot hit a clay frisbee with a shotgun. yikes.
target count = 10 shoot off targets = 835 total.
watch Anthony Matarese JR ! PULL ! shoot
