Sunday, November 23, 2008

And you thought I was kidding...

Sadly, our #6 team lost a tough game to the #1 team (which, incidentally, just dropped down one Class to our dinky-school division this past season). The Cheerleader was brave until we got to the car, and then she burst into tears because the season's over, and because she saw the stricken faces of all the boys as they walked off the field. It really was wretched.

Given the sharp decline in enrollment (there are 2 seniors for every freshman at the school) and the fact that they already had 9 players doing double duty on offense and defense, only 6 returning juniors and not enough kids to field a JV squad after a few got hurt or quit...well...saying "we'll be back next year" is hollow rhetoric indeed. The curtain is slowly descending on both the football program and the school. It is very sad.

4 comments:

Kasia said...

I'm sorry to hear about the game and about the school's situation. I feel the Cheerleader's pain a tiny bit on this one - our football team had one brief, shining season of glory my sophomore year in which we made it to be state runners-up in our division. You should've seen the long faces as we left the Silverdome after the final game. Stupid Muskegon...

That said, at least we had the hope, however slim, that we might one day do well again. Even though we didn't. :-(

But what's this - I didn't see any Rumpelminze in the video?... ;-)

Kit said...

The 'minze was in the mix...off camera!

The Football Player now knows that his little Cheerleader friend wept privately for her boys...I think he's more smitten than ever.

He admitted to us that he got a little verklempt once he made it to the locker room. He suited up but was not allowed to play due to an apparent mild concussion at practice last week, which made it even more painful to watch.

The Digital Hairshirt said...

Jaysus, Kit, you and the beloved were brave, brave souls! That looks like the friggin' Arctic!

gemoftheocean said...

Digi, I bet "friggin' Arctic" looks like "a balmy summer day" if you're actually FROM the "friggin' ARctic."
:-D [Admit it, you're now a "weather wuss" too. Uncomfortable if it's under 68F ditto if it's over 73F...especially with high humidity.]

Kit: thrill of victory/agony of defeat about sums it up. If it's any consolation in all my high school years EVERY year we lost to our arch rival. We usually didn't have very good football teams (save my soph. year) but the fun was in the bonding and cammeraderie.