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 ...

Francis of Assisi would run away from home if he lived here!

The title might be a bit extreme - Francis might just go to his room and shut the door and put a pillow over his head to silence the 'noise'. I have done that on occasion. And not because I have toddlers, or a kid that plays the drums or even really loud kids - it's because I live in a house where there is one lawyer, one law school student, and two more potential lawyers. And me - the one singing "Let there be peace on earth . . ." The other four Piggins family members enjoy debating. Sometimes, I think for the sake of the debate. John, Michael, Matthew and Delaney seem to really like these 'discussions'. For instance, we were watching a television show recently - I cannot even recall which one, but it seemed fairly bland - when one of the barrister Piggins made a comment that inspired disagreement from another barrister Piggins. That inspired another from another. And then one more from another until the four of them were debating on some point that wa...

You don't know me . . .

I stopped blogging for awhile. I know some might think that I was being lazy, or overly-involved in some community or school venture or in the middle of some really good books or projects. While all of those are true, that's not the main reason. I stopped because it felt strange to be somewhere and have someone refer to something I wrote. It was like they knew a secret about me (though secrets are not usually published on the Web) that I hadn't shared with them. Though in reality I had shared because I wrote it on the blog.  Truth be told, I don't know who reads this - I have a smattering of followers but a lot more readers. Blogger lets me see how many page views for each posting and I can even tell the referral site. The most I have had for any post was 152 and I've had readers from as far away as New Zealand (thank you Gretchen) and Alaska. Most readers are referred through Facebook. I know that if I were more diligent, I could market the crap out of the blog ...

WWJD?

What would Jesus do? I love to ponder that question when faced with a difficult or challenging decision. Like many of you, I had one of the WWJD wristbands and it worked as a great visual, moral compass. In situations like: "Should I start swearing at the driver of the car going 55 in the left lane of an interstate with a posted speed limit of 70 with the three little Piggins in the back seats of my mini-van?" First, even though Jesus never had a mini-van or children for that matter (unless you read or watched 'The Da Vinci Code' and follow the story line of Mary Magdalene being the wife of Jesus ... boy did I digress!), I'm pretty sure in this case, Jesus would not have sworn and certainly not thought awful thoughts about some idiot that didn't know that the left lane was for passing ... or how about a situation like this: You're in the express check out lane at the grocery story with the granola bars you promised to bring to your son and his team...