Mike Wagner's got 'murder' on his mind.
"It's called quad rugby, or wheelchair rugby, or also known as murderball," he said.
Athletes must wheel the ball past four opponents to score on the other side of the gym.
"If you can knock them down on the ground, even better."
It's strange how a violent game could save a man's life.
"I was really depressed, I just laid around and did nothing," he said.
Mike was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident more than a decade ago.
"I didn't drive and I started playing rugby, and I met some people, and I'm like these guys do it on their own, why can't I?"
Now the Everett resident is an athlete at the national level.
"I think I know what I'm doing."
A little cocky too, but that's alright, Mike has earned it. What he didn't deserve was to have Delta Air Lines lose one of his competition wheels on his flight back home after nationals in April.
"How can you not find a single wheel floating around your airport somewhere?" he wondered.
Delta never found it and promised to pay for a new one. A check was to be sent to the wheel manufacturer in New Zealand, but they never received the check.
"I don't know, it just frustrates me."
I called Delta and asked them what was the hold up with the money. In the meantime I skyped in with Roly Blakeway, Mike's longtime wheel maker from Christchurch, New Zealand.
"We had a representative from Delta in New Zealand call us and said they would pay directly from New Zealand and that was fine."
We let Mike know his wheel is on the way.
"It'll make pushing a lot better, I might be even faster, it's kind of like new shoes when you were a kid," he said.
Watch out guys! Mike's got fresh wheels on the way, and he's ready for all the hits in a new season of murderball.
Delta Airline in a statement blames the lost cash on a clerical error, saying: "We apologize for any confusion and have identified the source of the process failure to prevent future recurrences."
Well, we hope so.
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