I couldn’t even hear myself think, it was so loud. Standing there in the tunnel underneath the arena, it felt like my eardrums were going to burst. 100,000 people filled those stands, and down here in the home team tunnel, it sounded like every single one of those people was screaming their heart out into a megaphone.

Sounds were eerily muted down here, drowned out by the noise like a raindrop in the ocean. Teammates screamed motivation that was barely heard at one another as trainers rushed around, hurridly checking everyone’s equipment before the start of the game. I couldn’t even hear myself think.

Suddenly, the arena announcer is somehow heard over the screaming crowd, and my heartbeat begins to race; i know the games about to start. I hit myself over the head a couple times to clear my head, all this noise can really mess a guy up, and then the spotlight shines on the end of the tunnel. After all these long months, its finally time.

Here we go.