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. 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 ...

Going off the Rails on a Crazy Train

While getting an MRI recently, I selected to listen to a classic rock station. Actually I requested a station that played 70s or 80s music and the tech asked if I wanted pop or rock. "Well, classic rock would probably be better since I have to hold still," I responded. "If I listened to pop, I'd want to be dancing." And so I laid perfectly still while listening (or kind of listening since really in an MRI you never really drown out the loud bangs, whirs and booms). And it came to pass that the song "Crazy Train" started playing and I started to silently and stillfully laugh to myself. What a strangely perfect song for this moment in my life. Ozzy Osbourne was singing my song (has anyone ever really said that ever before???)! "I'm going off the rails on a crazy train," he sings/screams. (and a bunch of other lyrics I didn't understand because well, I was in an MRI and he was kind of screaming) You see the reason was that the MR...

When you encounter a totally different reality

John and I arrived early for an appointment (for those of you that know my husband, you know that this is not infrequent! The story of arriving three hours early for a flight to Phoenix from Midway still gets repeated and laughed about when the 'kids' get together). We found a seat and the waiting room began to fill. We had chosen seats away from the TV where NBC's Today Show was playing, so we couldn't see what was on the screen. Another couple sat before the TV and provided commentary and as the time progressed provided a glimpse into a total different 'reality'. "Oh I can't even stand to look at him. He's so evil" "What is wrong with his hair?" "This administration will do down in history as the worst ever." "The federal government is taking over the states. There's going to be a civil war, just you wait." "They just let all those illegal aliens in and then they're going to give them weapons to take...

Cabin fever made me do it!

Like nearly ever person in West Michigan, I have a serious case of cabin fever.  I won't waste your time however, complaining about the two-hundred feet of snow that's fallen in the last two hours. I won't share about the twenty or thirty times I've had to shovel my walk today as gusts blew it right back in my face. And I certainly will not lament about the temperatures that hover around negative double digits making your nostrils freeze together within moments of stepping outside. To bore you with tales of how we have to shovel areas in our yard so that our large dog and can do his 'duty' because the snow is deeper than he is tall and dogs for whatever reason cannot poop in the same place twice, is not what I will share. You will not hear about how when I open the slider to let aforementioned dog outside, gusts of wind blow drifts of snow inside and require a shovel to once again close the door.  Nor will I share how some roads around here are drifted shut be...