Skip to main content

It's not over until the fat lady sings . . . and I'm not ready yet!

I'm holding on tight - as though desperately trying to squeeze the last remnants of toothpaste from the tube. Like the last one to leave a show, the lights have come on, the other spectators have left the stadium, the maintenance staff is in cleaning up and life has resumed to normal for everyone else - but I am held fast in my seat with my eyes closed attempting to keep every last moment of the 'show' alive in my mind.

I am the fat lady and I refuse to sing that first note because that would mean this dream ride is over and I'm just not ready for it to end just yet.

Oh, what a ride it's been for the boys of fall and their fans! They did the impossible in many ways - they came from 'nowhere' to be the second best team in the state of Michigan defeating opponents with better records that were usually favored to win. This small band of Indians played well beyond their numbers or size - they were giants on the field. And off - as they taught others about good sportsmanship.

Even more, they created fans of people that have never been football fans (fat lady included) and they gave this little town, that's often at odds over various issues, unity. For a few all-too-short weeks the towns of Saugatuck and Douglas were one - Dougtuck or Saugadoug. Those that weren't fans of the schools were behind the team's ongoing victories. The dune supporters and their opponents were united in the stands cheering for the Saugatuck Indians. The opponents of sports in general were seen sitting in the stands rooting for the school's team. It seemed all opposing factions, whatever they are, were sitting side-by-side yelling "Go Saugatuck"!

For a few moments in time, this was a sort of nirvana. And the boys of fall, these young men (some not even old enough yet to drive!) brought us together. There were a thousand or more Saugatuck fans at Ford Field - far out-numbering those across the stadium from the larger city of Mt. Pleasant. (Of course this was the case in all of the playoff games - no matter the distance the Saugatuck fans outnumbered the home team fans). Several fans remarked that the last one out of town had better turn off the lights! Even Lauren Stanton - the town's big supporter on the airwaves at WZZM - drove the three hours to Ford Field after her shift on-air - just to see these young men play the game on the field of their dreams. out-of-town relatives and alumni from Saugatuck helped to nearly fill to capacity four full sections of Ford Field. Even the television announcer remarked about the 'whole town of Saugatuck' coming to the game.

And I know that I was not the only fan that got weepy when our players ran out of the tunnel and onto the field! It was such a joyful moment never to be forgotten. They were winners just for being there - though the results of the game might have made them feel otherwise, the Saugatuck Indians were first-class winners.

This will be a tale told for the rest of their lives - and likely everyone in town will be sharing this story for a long, long time. Marilyn Nor posted about the town of Hebron, Illinois making history by winning the state championship - and how it's still a topic of discussion in that state; this journey of the Indian's could be of that caliber. Only time will tell.

All I know is, I don't want it to be over just yet. Give me a few more days to bask in the glow and then I'll fire up the vocal chords!

Comments

  1. KathyNovember 30, 2010 at 7:38 PM

    I am there with you Kath! I did begin "singing" the song 17 weeks ago when the guys started playing this season....I am still posting pictures of the greatest event to ever hit all of our lives in this community! I can't peel myself away from all the pictures and videos of moments so cherished!! The bonding with family, friends and community members in a way that has never happened before here is hard to set aside. It has been an answer to prayer for Nathan to finally have the community backing the team as they do in the Boys of Fall video....I am finding it very hard to believe that we just witnessed the last football game Nathan will ever play....and that it was on FORD FIELD! This mom is just not ready to let go of the little boy in our house who has always lived for football...and not ready to let go of all the wonderful times had with so many awesome people while watching the best football team in the history of Saugatuck play their hearts out!!! Still singing and I'll keep holding the note with you Kath... Thank you for sharing your heart with us ♥

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

I had to use a calculator

I have been living with MS since 1992 - I used the calculator on my phone to determine that it's 29 years (because unlike the man pictured above my math skills are lacking). That's a long time and you don't need to be mathematically inclined to come to that conclusion. And when first diagnosed, my neurologist declared that with all the research he believed a cure was imminent likely 'within five years'. that would mean that we would have had the cure 24 years ago. We don't. So I am grateful I didn't wager any money on Dr. Wiley's prediction.  But what we do have, instead of a cure, is a plethora of pharmaceuticals to help stem this disease's progression and help us live fuller lives, longer. I am happy for that but am also curious and a tad skeptical because these drugs cost a person living with MS a lot of money and pharma has no financial incentive to search for the cure when they can keep us living less gimpy lives for many years reliant on their ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Struggling to not feel like a failure

Okay all of you 'struggling to stand' or 'not wanting to have to use a wheelchair' or others that look upon using a wheelchair as a symbol of failure, you're about to get punched. Punched in the figurative sense. I am about to go on my soap box and my Irish is up which means that I'm fairly peeved (though I've been mulling this over for awhile so I'm not as angry as I once was, which means there will be fewer expletives and a kinder tone). If you've read this blog or know me at all, you know that I did not go easily into using a wheelchair as my primary mode of transport. I too, may have had a little bit of your attitude about the wheelchair being sign of failure or of having given up. My sister, Kerri, helped put it in a different light. She said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "It's actually an energy saver since walking is stressful and you're worried about falling - using a wheelchair will take away a lot of that stress. You will hav...
Post a Comment
Read more

Friday Night Lights

Friday night lights were blazing last week - when for the first time in the history of our little town, the Saugatuck Indians clinched the district title! You can see the sheer joy on Matthew's face and the pride in his father's eyes in the picture above. Leading up to and during the game, there were several things that made the victory even more sweet. The first being that the sports writers in the area, to a person, all predicted the opponents, Climax-Scotts, to win. They'd had a perfect season - until Friday. The second was that we had to travel quite a distance (nearly 90 minutes) to get to the game. And the weather was frigid and snow was blowing - thankfully it was blowing towards the Climax-Scotts stands and was at our backs. And then our quarterback injured his shoulder and had to sit out for a good portion of the game. Thankfully, the replacement quarterback (a sophomore called up for the playoffs from the junior varsity team) did not let the stress effect his ...
3 comments
Read more