"That Damn Football Game"-A Nonfiction Essay
Posted: 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.
>>>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.