Thomas Campbell Blog #7: Have to have my HD

Thomas Campbell is a senior forward on the UNC Greensboro men's soccer team. This year will be different for the three-year starter, however. Campbell, UNCG's leading scorer last season, will be sitting out his redshirt season while recovering from a knee injury he suffered last spring. Each Friday, Campbell will blog about the Spartans' soccer season, his teammates, his classes and his journey back to the soccer pitch in the rehab process. Today is the seventh installment.

Hello all,

Last Saturday we played High Point at home. It was an out of conference match but a good game to get things organized and get back to winning. They are a backyard rival and a lot of our guys have played with or against a lot of their guys while growing up.

We started flat and went into halftime tied 0-0. We made a couple changes at halftime and came out flying. We ended up winning 2-0 and picking up a good win at home.

I have had a busy week because Fall Break is coming up and it seems like all of the professors cram everything into this last week of class. I had a presentation early Monday morning and a test later on that day. Then I went to practice. Put on my cleats for the first time in a while and kicked the ball around for a little bit. It felt weird getting back into it and putting my leg through the motions. But after a couple minutes, it felt routine as usual. It's a good feeling to know I can slowly start progressing towards playing speed again sometime soon.

After practice I went and picked up my flat screen TV, which was damaged after a lawn guy we hired snapped our power line. (You know, I am rehabbing my knee... can't be cutting the grass myself!) It was in the shop for just about a month and everyone that knows me knows I love my TV. So after picking it up and hanging it back on the wall, I refused to plug it in until I had another surge protector. The original one was also destroyed in the power surge. I went to Best Buy and bought a surge protector. I came home and plugged it in and the surge protector blew up.

So then I got really annoyed, but realized that I could not run that much power through a 3-to-2 converter and plug it up to a 2-way outlet. I drove to Ace Hardware and got myself a new 3-way outlet with a ground tail -- nothing more than a small wire that connects from the back of the plug to the metal outlet box in order to ground it. I called one of my friends from home that is an electrician and had him walk me through the steps on how to install a 15-amp, 3-way outlet. (I know, by now all of you are picturing me as the old "Tool Time with Tim Taylor" character that Tim Allen plays on the television show "Home Improvement." I am better around the house than that, though.)

I successfully installed the outlet, plugged in ANOTHER new surge protector (that I exchanged for the old one), and plugged in my TV. It is so nice to finally enjoy sports in HD again.

Tuesday was another busy day - a full work load, rehab, a lift, and a game at Wake Forest. Last year they beat us 8-0 at home so it was a good time to prove ourselves. We ended up losing 6-0. They are a very talented team that I think will repeat as National Champs because I don't think there is anyone that will beat them; they just have too much depth.

We had Wednesday off so it was a pretty relaxing day. I had rehab and class in the morning, and then took my puppy to the park. He loves running around and chasing soccer balls. There is a little park right by my house with a baseball field so I let him run around the baseball field whenever there isn't a game going on. He gets exhausted pretty quickly because he is out of shape, but once I can start running again he will be just as fit as I am.

Thursday was another busy day. I went to class, did my rehab, went to practice, and then lifted. Practice went well as the team prepares for a huge weekend at College of Charleston. Like Furman, it is another hard place to play on the road. With a 1-2 conference record right now we desperately need a win so we can try and finish in the top four teams in the conference standings. The top four teams have first round home games in our conference tournament and that would be very important for us.

Like I said earlier, this weekend is fall break. Mostly everyone is either going home or going somewhere but I am just hanging out in Greensboro. I am not going to make the trip to College of Charleston, so I hope the team does well.

Almost forgot, the 'stache update. I believe Nirav Kadam will be rocking the 'stache this weekend when the team arrives in Charleston. I also heard a rumor that our assistant coach Justin Maullin was also planning on rocking one.

Till next time...adeus.

Thomas Campbell, #7

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