"That Damn Football Game"-A Nonfiction Essay

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Spock
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"That Damn Football Game"-A Nonfiction Essay

#1 Post by Spock » Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:30 pm

Part 1 of something I have been working on: the core of the rest is written but I am not quite there yet, but I am pretty happy with this section.

>>>In the very wet fall of 1984, the Chokio-Alberta Spartans beat the Hoffman-Kensington Patriots 8 to 7 in a 9-man high school football game in the second round of the playoffs and lives changed. I didn’t play in the game as I rode the bench, as it should have been. However, as will be shown below, the game will be with me to the very end of my life.

I don’t view thinking about “The Game” as reliving high school. In some odd way, the Spartans and the Patriots are tied together by the game and it touches on the core of who we are even today and probably will for the rest of our lives.

I was a member of the Patriot team. The Patriots had won state championships in 1978 and 1980 and the buzz around town was that the 1984 squad was better than both those teams and everybody, including the team, expected to win another state championship. 30 plus years later, it is still mentioned by those in the know, that the 1984 team was the best Patriot squad.

It seems that the 1984 season is more remembered than the 2 state championships. To this day it is common that when someone asks what year I graduated and I answer “1985” their response is something like “Is that the year you guys lost to the Spartans?”

I made the decision in the middle of my Sophomore year of high school that I wanted to be part of the team for the last 2 years of high school. I had no illusions of my athletic abilities or expectations of playing time; I just wanted to be part of the team, especially if we were going to win a state championship. I was fortunate to live in a time and place where a non-athletic boy could choose to go out for football just because he wanted to be on the team. 35 years later, I still regard it as one of the best decisions of my life.

Joining the team was out of character for me, and as word got around; for the first time in my life I saw a look of respect in a girl’s eyes. I also think one of the coaches respected me for stepping out of my comfort zone and joining the team as I have always thought that he gave me more playing time than he should have given my abilities.

In the summer of 1984, between my Junior and Senior years of high school, I met 2 of the Spartans at a 3-day citizenship camp. Their quarterback was there and a lineman named Bruce. I especially enjoyed getting to know Bruce and I was sad to hear that he died young of a heart condition about 5 years later.

As "The Game" was winding down and it was pretty apparent that the Spartans would win, I remember seeing Bruce roaring in triumph across the muddy field. I saw him (and see him still) as a victorious ancient warrior because for those few seconds that is what he was. I wish we had won the game, but I am glad that Bruce had that moment and I am glad that I saw it.

I don’t know what the last image I will see when death takes me, but I know that the image of Bruce roaring a challenge to his defeated foes will be one of the last conscious things I see.

End of Part One.
Last edited by Spock on Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Spock
Posts: 4295
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:01 pm

Re: "That Damn Football Game"-A Nonfiction Essay

#2 Post by Spock » Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:41 pm

Part Two:

>>>Death stalks that time for me. I had gained some athletic confidence by being on the team my junior year and a staff member at the citizenship camp was related to one of our coaches and knew of the expectations placed on the Patriots. I wore some Patriots gear and he had athletic expectations for me. One afternoon, there was a coed softball game and he assigned me to play first base. I may not have gone there on my own. However, it worked out well.

As the softball game progressed, the pitcher and I developed a rapport and we played well together. For a golden hour or two and maybe for the only time in my life, I felt what it was like to be good at sports.

Something tells me that sunlit afternoon on the softball field might show up at the end along with Bruce roaring across the field. I later learned that the pitching half of our dynamic duo died in a car accident 4 years after the softball game.

I think the look of respect in that 10th grade girl's eyes will also be one of the last things I see.

Three of the 4 ushers in my wedding were high school classmates and members of the football team. I would have been friends with all of them even if I had not been on the team. However, I am glad that I was on the team with them.

Two of the ushers died young of cancer. Kevin died at age 45 and Jon died at 37. I remember Jon convincing me in 10th grade that it would be OK if I went out for football as a Junior. I am not sure that I would have made the leap without his support. At Kevin’s funeral, I told the 3rd usher that this dying crap had to stop with Kevin for a while.
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End of part 2

Spock
Posts: 4295
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:01 pm

Re: "That Damn Football Game"-A Nonfiction Essay

#3 Post by Spock » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:33 am

Part 3
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I rode to the camp with the Spartans and a few other people. During the ride and throughout the camp, the Bruce and the QB talked a lot about how good their football team was. I didn’t say much because I was a bench player and, besides, I knew we were better than them.

We (the Patriots) scrimmaged the Spartans before the regular season and we tore them apart. They didn’t even belong on the field with us. I don’t think they were sandbagging us because there was no way to know that we would see each other in the playoffs. However, they beat us when it mattered and that is why you play the games.

The 1984 regular season ended with us having a 7-0 record and we were consistently at the top of state rankings for our class. We had really been only challenged in one game when we beat Hancock by 19 to 12. We beat arch-rival Starbuck in our homecoming game 42-21. We had our eyes set on Starbuck all season as the team we needed to get past in the playoffs to go anywhere.

Hubris can be a mean nasty bitch and she hit us hard in the first playoff game with Clinton. We were ahead 56 to 0 when a crucial coaching mistake was made. Mike, our star quarterback/defensive back was still in on defense at that point in the game and he got a severe concussion.

I don’t know if you can even describe Mike’s presence in the game at that point as a mistake, it seems dirtier than that. Our defensive coach did not like to give up touchdowns and wanted the other team to have to earn any points they had.

Given that we blew out most of our opponents that year, our good players had to be in the game some when we were way ahead or they wouldn’t have gotten much playing time. But still, 56-0 at the start of what was hopefully a deep playoff run?

Everyone understands that injuries are a part of football and when a key player is injured in a close game there is honor in that and everyone goes on from that point and does the best they can. However, there is no honor when a key player is still in the game when you are ahead 56-0 and he is injured.

Mike played on Offense in the Spartan game, but not on Defense. I don’t know if he was at 100% on offense in the game, but we are cursed with the knowledge that the Spartan’s touchdown and 2-point conversion were scored over Mike’s replacement on defense. It is not his fault; he just wasn’t as good as Mike and made mistakes that Mike probably would not have.

The episode with Mike is the focal point of the Patriot’s 1984 season. Why do you have the star quarterback playing defense when we are ahead 56 to 0? It is our excuse, our curse, and, 35 years later, it is the part of this where the pain and anger doesn’t go away.

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End of Part 3

Spock
Posts: 4295
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:01 pm

Re: "That Damn Football Game"-A Nonfiction Essay

#4 Post by Spock » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:41 am

Part 4
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The game was a mud bowl. We had “Home Field Advantage” or disadvantage in this case as our field was a former swamp that was reverting to that status in the wet fall of 1984. We have pictures of guys floating boats on the field in the fall.

The Spartans field was dry and we asked if we could play the game there. As was their right, they refused to switch and wanted to play on our field. They knew they had a better chance in the mud than on a dry field.

We (the Patriots) tell ourselves that we would beat them 9 times out of ten. I don’t know if that holds true with an injured Mike and a muddy field. Oh well, we ended where we ended.

The game is never far below the surface for the Patriots, but I never knew until many years later how important the game still is to the Spartans. They beat us and then went on to lose the next game to Starbuck. However, before their loss to Starbuck, they knocked off the top-ranked Patriots and that is their great high school triumph and it will be with them to the end of their lives.

About 20 years after the Game, a Spartans player (Kurt) turned out to be my son’s Little League coach. I could tell that he was happy to meet a Patriot and share his story of the game. It turned out that he was the player that caught both the touchdown and the 2-point conversion. He said after the touchdown, their coach asked them if they wanted to “Kiss their Sister,” meaning go for one, or did they want to go for 2 and the win.

His wife was his high school sweetheart, and thus she was there for the game. I detected 2 vibes from her. A half joking “Oh God, now I have to hear about the game again.” However, I think she was also happy for her husband that he ran into somebody from the other side and could tell his story anew.

A few years after that, I ran into Kurt and a few other Spartans at a concert and he quickly pointed out to the other guys that I was a Patriot and they got to chuckle about it.

Around that time, my 3rd usher, Scott, one of our star players ran into Kurt and some other Spartans at a bar. They were trying to find a tape of the game for their upcoming class reunion. Scott said he was thinking about it, as Kurt was pretty nice about it, but then one of the Spartans smarted off and Scott told me “No way, were they getting the tape after that.”

I have joked a few times that the Spartans and the Patriots should have a high school reunion together and play some football again. No matter how old we were, it would not be very long and somebody, on either side, would smart off and the fists would start flying.
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End of Part 4

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