It was a cold, blustery day at the Sycamore Street Turkey Bowl this wretched 2020. 21 mile an hour winds and a game time temperature of 54. The game didn’t even begin on time. In fact, because of a serious rain event, it was a little more than 24 hours late for game time. The players were chomping at the bit to get the game on the road, so to speak, especially the young break-out rookie quarterback Luke. The trio of MVP’s from two years ago were back in action. Micah, Zak, and Jachin even ended up on the same team for a time. Caleb drew kudos from the crowd as the only football star with the guts to play an entire game … in those slip-on, flip flop type shoes. Amazing. Noa was the female entry in the game this year. She did well, but the allure of warmth eventually drove her inside. Ezra jetted out into the field of play once or twice, but he was more concerned with stocking the imaginary ice cream stand in the back of the pickup truck. He was the only one who could operate the dolly. AnnaGrace was a beautiful stand operator, and the imaginary ice cream was absolutely delicious. Sadly, Cailyn was tied up elsewhere during the game. That rounds out the roll call of the players.
After
the inaugural Turkey Shoot the night before in which Uncle Nathan and Uncle Josh
taught some rather treacherous secrets of the art of air soft wars, football
seemed a welcome respite.
The
sides were picked, with Rookie Luke ending up on the team with his mentor and
Dad. The first kickoff was in the
air. The game had begun. As expected, Luke was nothing short of
amazing in his debut. He completed more than
a few passes, and even caught a few in his role doubling as a split end. Amazing.
Truly amazing.
Relegated
to the sidelines, allegedly on Injured Reserve, but scheduled to become
eligible at any moment, was the grand old timer. Forced to endure the promising showing of the
young QB, he grudgingly cheered on the teams, even to the point of assisting in
referee-required decisions. It was
somewhat of a seesaw battle this year. You
know … the referee says, “I see this” and the players say, “But I saw that.” See-saw.
Oh, and there were occasional scores as well. No idea how many. And there may or may not have been one series
of downs where that old guy on the sidelines was called into action to complete
a pass or two. It was a tricky situation
to be sure. He had to wait for the head
trainer and team RN to disappear into the clubhouse. Wouldn’t want her to be worried or anything,
especially after her recent bout with injury.
It was just one series of downs, mind you. And he can go into the record books as the
oldest participant ever, overtaking the earlier appearance by the legendary Uncle
Jerry many years before. Of course, Uncle
Jerry threw a touchdown pass in his appearance at age 60. But he had just had serious back
surgery. OK. Let’s put an asterisk in and leave them both.
Finally,
the time came for awarding of the Dee Clements Memorial Award. Fittingly, one of the nominees was Uncle
Nathan for his incredible … wait. That wasn’t
him. He was nominated because he didn’t show
up. It was the second nominee that took
the trophy, though. The award went to
Josiah for sacrificing himself in the icy cold waters of the River Sycamore (Read
here, he rather unceremoniously rolled through the remaining remnants of
rainwater and sludge in the gutter on the side of the street. But somehow that just doesn’t sound as glamorous). He almost lost his chance at the nomination,
however, when he expressed a desire to go inside and change clothes. Nope.
This is true football, my young friend.
Press on.
Colossians
1:13 says, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us
into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”
Father,
thank you for fun traditions and the family to carry them on. Amen.
