Skip to main content
...Full of Grace

I think I have started to realize why I'm such a sports fan, especially NFL Football. People with absolutely nothing in common can come together for three hours in front of the TV and high five with each other like they have been lifelong friends.

My first memory of being a fan happened on December 28th, 1975. I was eight. That day my grandfather was over watching the big game with my dad and myself. My fathers side of the family was always distant. I really didn't know my dads dad. He wasn't around too much. He didn't take an interest in his own kids, much less his grand kids.

But Dallas Cowboys football? There some common ground for you. It was playoff time, and the Cowboys were in Minnesota to face Fran Tarkenton and the Minnesota Vikings. Being an eight point underdog at the freezing Metropolitan Stadium (the friendly indoor confines of the Metrodome were not available for another 7 years) was not a promising situation.

The game was a classic defensive struggle with the Cowboys dominating everything but the scoreboard. With time, and the season slipping away, the Cowboys faced a 4th and 17 on their own 25 yard line. Staubach hit Pearson on the sidelines for 25 yard and a first down right at the midfield stripe. 36 seconds remained in the season, and they had no timeouts. What happened next has gone down as one of the most stunning plays in NFL history. Roger pumps left then heaves it deep to Drew Pearson, who catches it at the five yard line and strolls in for the touchdown. I had just witnessed "The Hail Mary". When a single play gets its own "name" over time (see "the immaculate reception" and "The Catch") it has cemented itself in NFL lore, an all time classic. I, of course, didn't know this, and was actually too busy watching my grandfather leap out of the recliner and run around our living room literally yelling "were gonna win!!" over and over. Hugging anyone he could. This person who was usually so grim and uncaring, transformed into a different person that afternoon. By a simple football game.

Too bad they only play 17 weeks out of the year...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Dam right it's too bad.

If we had my way, we wouldn't have to suffer this NFL crap for ONE week, let alone 17! ;^)

i.
9:04 AM
Anonymous said…
Hi, Nice blog you have here. Lots of great info on chicago bear schedule. I have a chicago bear schedule related site. It has lots of information, discussion, stats etc. on chicago bear schedule. Please check it out if you get a chance.
7:44 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You are connected to Castle Rock BBS (9600bps) Local Telix User

Having always been a technology fan, especially into computers, you learn something early on. The Early Adopter Tax. If it’s new, hot, and you want it now, you will pay double for it compared to the price that it will surely sink to within six months. It’s always fun (and somewhat painful) to go back and see what you paid for early gadgets. I have blogged about this before, having obtained my first computer from my dad who “traded” a complete central air and heat system for our Atari Setup. At the time, we came out REAL good on that deal. The early Atari’s were EXPENSIVE. Looking back, it was insane. In the late 80’s early 90’s, before the proliferation of Teh Interwebs, BBS’ were all the rage. I ran a fairly successful single line BBS called Castle Rock for almost 3 years. The early days of online computing, speeds were not gauged on your CPU , but your modem was the bottle neck. For a long time, we were stuck at 300 baud, which was insanely slow. Then the jump to 1200 baud.
1 comment
Read more
Football Isn't a Contact Sport, It's a Collision Sport... Duffy Daugherty In my book, the start of the NFL season should be a national holiday. The previous Friday and the following Monday should be free of work, all focus should be allowed on the game. I'm serious. Even the wife, who, bless her heart, knows how much football season means to me, had the Chili going before kickoff. The chips and dip set out and the beverages were extra chilled. During the NFL season, my Sunday consists of the following: Get up at 10:00am and start watching the ESPN Gameday. Fire up the wireless laptop and get connected to DirecTV's Game Tracker. This in conjunction with DirecTV's NFL Sunday ticket package is the ultimate way to watch the games. 11:30 fire up the lunch for the game (Frito Pie, Chili, Brats, etc., etc). 12:00, settle in for the next NINE hours of gridiron action. Am I sick? Probably. Do I care. Not a bit, ya only get 17 weeks of it, so I savor it all.
4 comments
Read more
Ralphing Kisses After reading my buddy Escapes post about his faithful dog Maynard, it seems a good time for a dog story. The day before Christmas Eve, we had decided to go out to eat. I had started gathering the candy that I was going to put in the stockings and had left it on the corner of the end table out of site. Or so I thought. When we returned from dinner, I notice little bits of what looked like aluminum foil around the house. I followed the trail until it ended directly under the Christmas tree. There sat an empty bag ( a ONE pound bag mind you) of Hershey Kisses. Shaye the Weenie dog, well into her 10th year had eaten a pound of chocolate in our absence. She was also nowhere to be seen. Anytime we return to the house and she didn’t greet you at the door wagging her tail is a bad sign. It usually meant she did something she knew she would get in trouble for and was firmly entrenched under the back corner of the bed, her favorite hiding spot. She was there,
5 comments
Read more