Saturday afternoon was going to be, according to all predictions, a triumphant moment for the Carthage football team, riding high from a tremendous win over Wheaton- ranked fourth in the nation – one week ago. Carthage fans were hoping that the last game of the season would be still another emphatic win, and there was even a chance that a win might set up the RedMen for a trip to the playoffs.
As I finished up playing for Vanessa Schroeder’s voice recital right around 3:00, I heard some enthusiastic cheering from Keller Field and decided that I would see by how much the team was winning. (I have 6 or 7 football players in my Popular Music in America class, so it’s especially fun to see the team in action.) As I walked into the stadium, I saw a score of 49-10 on the scoreboard and hurried to the stands, excited to join in the jubilation. Then as I settled into a place in the stands, next to Kent and Linda Parker and Megan Dieschbourg and her mom, I looked more closely and realized to my horror that the score was North Central 49, Carthage 10. And as you can see from the photo, it got even worse before it was all done.
It was interesting to be huddled with the miserable masses that afternoon, shivering on this cloudy November afternoon and wishing there was something- anything – we could do to reverse the disastrous fortunes of our team. As I watched Trevor (one of the assistant coaches) on the sideline, I wished there was a way to eavesdrop. What does a coach say when it’s late in the third quarter and their team is behind by 39 points? How do you hang on to hope in the face of such an insurmountable deficit? What keeps those football players from slipping off the field holding white flags in the air? What keeps them trotting out onto the playing field? I don’t know, but maybe part of it has to do with loving the game itself and being grateful for the opportunity to play it. And maybe it also has something to do with those faithful fans in the stands.
A couple of them stand out. At one point, I was talking with Kent and Linda about one of my favorite students, Matt Favero, Carthage’s starting center (and he’s only sophomore) who actually had to have surgery earlier in the season after contracting the serious MRSA staph infection that actually struck a number of players. At the time it seemed certain that his season was over – if not his career – but Matt defied all expectations, healed up quickly, and has been back out on the field and doing great. Anyway, I was thinking that he was number 54 but the only 54 I saw wasn’t him. At that point, I heard a friendly voice behind me say “actually he’s number 55.” It turned out to be Matt’s mother, feeling just as miserable as we were, but there all the same- proud of the team for coming through their adversity as well as they did and just wishing that the season could end a bit more happily.
At one point, I saw my music faculty colleague Woody Hodges heading down the aisle and toward the exit off the stands- leaving before the end of the game because he needed to attend the band concert at 4. Kent told me after he left that Dr Hodges and Carol are at every single Carthage football game. . . both home and away games. That is some special sort of devotion.
It was fun to listen for the distinctive voice of President Campbell, whose favorite battle cries are “Redmen! Redmen! Tough! Tough! Tough!” barked out in rat-a-tat-tat style. He loves this team and he’s there through thick and thin, even on the cold afternoons when the numbers are all wrong and we’re losing all of the fumbles instead of recovering them.
It was fun to watch the pep band in action, playing bravely in the face of certain defeat. And one of my voice students, Zach Wolf, was in his standard football game garb . . . shirtless in gym shorts and tennis shoes, despite a temperature of 37 degrees. I must admit there’s something stirring about such school spirit- but it’s also more than a little bit scary!
And of course it was fun to be with the Parkers and Dieschbourgs, bundled up in their blankets, defiant against the disappointment. . . and it was mighty nice to think of them today and of the good news of a magnificent Green Bay Packers victory over the Vikings. That’s one nice thing about the game of football – there’s always another game and the chance of happier outcomes.