Football

That's us, circa 1978, the Hutcheson Chaparrals. We loved football, and we were the kings of the city. We lost one game in three years, a heartbreaking safety caused by a bad center-quaterback exchange during an ice storm. We had good coaches, we got along like brothers (fights included), and we worked our asses off. And we had a ton of fun, because when it came right down to it, we all loved football and everything about it. Even the wind sprints in the dark, running up and down the bleachers over and over, and we even survived wearing shirts and ties on game days. I have loved football since I can remember. But then again, this is Texas. Growing up we played every day. I was blessed to live in a neighborhood full of kids, so there was never a shortage of players. The yards in our cookie cutter suburb always had the driveways on opposite sides of the yards, so we all had double sized front yards for our field. The end zones were the sidewalks to the front doors, out of bounds was the sidewalk on one side and the front of the house on the other. I still have scars from going out of bounds on the house side. The only time we stopped was to watch the Cowboys play. I still remember the original Hail Mary pass. Cowboys were losing to the Vikings and no where near scoring, with only a few minutes to play. I thought the game was over, so I went and got my shoes. I brought them back into our living room to put them on so I could go to play our tradition after-Cowboys game-football game. Staubach dropped back, the line collapsed, and he just let it rip. Drew Pearson was streaking down the field toward the end zone. Staubach gets planted, and somehow Pearson catches the ball. It was ugly and beautiful all at the same time. I was stunned, and so was everyone at the game. It was great. It was football at it's best. I got away from football in the 80's. The team you see in the picture above was split up when we went to high school, since we straddled two different high school areas. When I got to high school, it just wasn't the same. The coaches didn't seem as good, and neither did the team. It wasn't fun anymore. I decided I would rather earn money and chase girls, so I quit. I don't regret it at all, too many of my former teammates wished they had done the same. It sucks going from undisputed champs to the worst team in the district, but there it was. The Cowboys also decided to take the same route, and were also looking pretty sorry. I worked every Sunday and never had a chance to see a game. I still caught Cosell on Monday's when I could, because you never knew what he would do. Anyone remember him comparing a black kick return specialist to a monkey running down the field? That was an Oh Shit moment for MNF if I ever saw one. But slowly I got back into it, and to this day still I will watch any football game I can. I'm not much on college football, but I will watch it when I have time. I remember the second most famous Hail Mary pass, and I saw it purely by accident. Again, I know nothing about college ball. I was living in a rented house with two roommates. For whatever reason it was one of those rare days when I was there alone. I flipped on the tube and saw there was a game on, just one. It was Boston College (who?) and Miami. I had never heard of Bernie Kosar or Doug Flutie, nor did I care to know. It was one of the best games I've ever seen, pro or college. The whats and whens aren't as clear as the Cowboy-Viking game, but somehow Flutie pulled out a major upset with a long, low percentage pass. Doug Flutie is still one of my favorite players of all times, for a whole bunch of reasons. I still watch as much as I can, and I still think Jerry Jones is Satan. But I still love the Cowboys. I loved them even when Barry Switzer was the coach. (What kind of idiot would hire the coach of OU to coach a Texas team. Oh yeah, it was Satan.) Troy, Emmitt, and Michael were great, no doubt about it. But Roger, Tony, and Drew were even greater to me. I don't know why, but they were. The Longhorns look unstoppable this year, and have ignited in me a new passion for college ball. We may actually beat OU next week. If not, you can read about Mack Brown's lynching, and it WILL happen. To me it's still a game, and it's still fun. I still like to throw the ball around, and would love to actually play again, but I know that would lead to some type of surgery within a few minutes. A few years ago at our Christmas US Mail hub, we played a full contact game on a day off. The injury list was long over the next few days, and we almost had to cancel Christmas. It wasn't the Grinch, it was middle aged men doing something that was better left to younger people. But as we limped, and groaned, and winced, we also smiled. Because for a few hours, we got to play some football, and it was all worth it.