Way Back Machine - Lone Victory of '83

scoreboard in the distance says it all - victory, finally

In taking a break from shoveling, the way back machine today takes us back to my junior year of high school, 1983, and the football season that, according to the adult beverage-induced stories I hear from former teammates each year at the annual fishing trip up north, was "this close" to being undefeated. Well, I'm hear to set that legend straight. We were what the results showed. Scoring a total of six touchdowns in the first six games isn't going to cut it. The "Mitchell left" and "Mitchell right" play calls were a bit on the predictable side and it showed in the results. Losing your first six games is a kick in the rear. The coach would always tell us after each loss that the other team said we were the hardest hitting team they had seen all year, whatever that is good for besides a future of short-term memory loss. I remember one practice during the losing streak where the head coach was coaching us up during sprints, asking out loud what we thought the problem with the losing was. One player, who shall be nameless, spoke up and said two words that every exhausted teammate may have thought of but would never say out loud, "bad coaching." "Bad coaching!!!, replied the coach, "We're running forever!!!" And so we ran.  

That all changed one crisp fall evening as Pinckney came in for homecoming in game seven. A whopping they received as I'm not sure if we had it clicking or they were that bad; or there was a full moon. My theory is we finally found a team that could match our 170 pound lineman. Here nor there, the "we suck less" chants I'm sure were heard in the distance once the clock struck zero and a 42-0 victory for the Redskins. Heck, I even got to play in that game.

I guess we used up all our touchdowns in that game as we went goose egg in the final two. Using the "half glass full" angle, we did win one more game than the '82 team who lost all nine that year. Using the "half glass empty" angle, that was a lot of losing.

I don't know the words to our fight song but "oskee-wa-wa" to all my former teammates.

Trail Head

 

Seeking Information and Getting a Bill of Goods

So there I was Thursday evening at the fishing expo in town with all the usual suspects in attendance mixed in with the many angler exhibits. You had the many beef jerky booths. The "sign" booth with signs such as "Beer. Helping ugly people have sex since 1769." The magic bracelet booth (bracelet cures body aches). The spine check booth (mine still crooked).The t-shirt booth where the shirts drop three sizes after the first wash. The buy one, get two free sunglasses booth. The 5-hour energy booth. They were all here. I was sad that I didn't see the Sham-Wow booth but maybe I just missed them. My mission on this wintry evening was to stock up on some lures and hopefully enhance my fishing knowledge at one of the many seminars.

I completed the first half of my mission in that I have enough wacky worms and o-rings to last at least through the spring. The latter part of the mission was a bill of goods, however. The title of the seminar I attended, Smallmouth Solutions, lead you to believe that you were going to get some secrets on catching bass. The entire seminar felt more like an infomercial as all the guy did was push the lures he was selling at the show. Of course the lures were working because the fish were hungry as heck. I could have put a bare hook and got something out of the pool. The one tip he did give in that the secret to catching lots of fish is (drum roll please).......using your favorite lure. "And of course your favorite lure can be my tube lures on sale now at my booth right behind you." 

Fish on, sell on.

Trail Head