Skip to main content

The Road to the Final Four . . .



It's our own March Madness right here in Saugatuck - but it's happening in November. Should we call it November Delight??

I cannot help, throughout this past month, thinking of the movie "Hoosiers". The basketball team depicted in the movie was an underdog from a small town who got to play in the state championship in the big house. On the way to many of their games, the team bus was followed by a plethora of fan cars driving through the rural areas and small towns of Indiana. As the victories mounted, the number of cars increased. This was a team that was loved by its town.

All of you Saugatuckians - does that ring true or what??? We have driven through many a small town and rural farm land on our way to playoff games against St. Joseph, North Adams and Climax Scotts - and even in the regular season to teams like Bloomingdale and Lawton. At each playoff game, the number of cars driving these rural routes has increased and our stands, the visitor stands, have always been full. Often outnumbering the 'home' team.

I don't know if they keep stats of attendance at these playoff games, but yesterday's game Saugatuck easily outnumbered Fulton by double. There were men and women in Saugatuck letter jackets from many years past - how cool was that! And people came to see the Indians from distances across the state!

After each victory, there has been a moment or two of stunned disbelief. As though we're thinking, "Did we really just win conference/district/region?" The euphoria on the faces of the fans, however, does not come close to the euphoria of the players!!!! At games' end, they're elation is unparalleled! And there have been tears of joy - mostly from the parents, but also the players; each victory is a little more surreal and a little sweeter.

We played St. Joseph Catholic at Waterviliet - since the St. Joseph field was under construction or something. We drove the back roads to get to the stadium that was full of Saugatuck fans. The band, in full uniform, arrived and played our way to victory. We weren't projected to win. But we did!

Climax Scotts was an hour and half away and we drove through some back roads to a stadium with small visitor stands full to the brim with Saugatuck fans. More than before at Waterviliet.

On the way to North Adams, which was truly in the middle of nowhere it seemed, there were signs of support for their team. They dotted the road leading to the stadium (I use that term loosely here) and apparently the team bus was greeted by taunts and jeers as they drove through downtown (again a term used loosely here). The Saugatuck fans kept coming and we doubled- maybe even tripled - the number of home team fans. We love our Indians.

Yesterday's state semi-final was beyond imagination. The cars, the fans, the spirit for this team that is truly a Cinderella story. They have won not only more games but fans along the way!

After each victory, the team bus has been greeted by the town's firetrucks and police cars and lead through both Douglas and Saugatuck on a late-night parade. Many cars followed along, honking horns and cheering for our Indians. And Friday night prior to the big semi-final, the town held a parade. In this town that loves parades, it was the biggest yet and included floats and decorated vehicles. And the band that has come to each of the games.

This road to the final four may be reminiscent of "Hoosiers", but it feels a whole lot bigger. Could be because I am intimately involved in this tale - with #53 Matthew Piggins on the field playing his heart out!

And now the Final Four is down to two - these record-blowing, dream-creating Indians against Mt. Pleasant Catholic Central. I know the pundits will write that we are outmatched - they've done it before in fact for each of previous playoff games - since Mt. Pleasant is undefeated. But I think these young men will once again play a good game with their hearts of gold and unmatched tenacity.

The story is still be written. And I am proud to be part of it - and even more proud of my not-so-little Indian, Matthew.

Comments

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more