TheBanyanTree: The Ax

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Whenever I turn the page of the calendar to October, I usually see a picture
of trees, still heavy with gold, yellow, and red leaves, set against a
crystal blue sky.  That calendar day was yesterday; it was another picture
perfect October day in St. Paul.

The morning air was crisp, but not cold.  And as my son, in his grade school
years as a playground football player, would say, “It’s football weather!”
And indeed it was.  And that’s what we did, watched football, in the Dome,
the Gophers and Badgers, those rodents (although I don’t know if badgers are
really rodents) of the Midwest, battle it out for the right to carry Paul
Bunyon’s ax one more year.

We met Asher, Susan, and the boys at University and Snelling, and caught the
bus to the Dome from there.  It’s so relaxing to take the bus.  There is no
hassle with parking and paying a fortune for a small piece of asphalt, no
long lines, just the people on the bus, and as we stop and go, we can watch
the city pass through its windows.  We were proudly wearing our maroon and
gold and some Wisconsin fans got on the bus proudly wearing their red and
white.

When we got off the bus, the Gopher Marching Band was just coming up the
street towards the Dome.  The cheerleaders were leading the way.  We stopped
to watch and listen.  I just love the boys’ reactions to all this.  This was
their first big time college football game and all its pageantry.  I hope in
a future date, they’ll remember this perfect fall day and the fun they had
attending an important game.

The Dome was packed – 65,000 people crammed in to watch the game.  The
Wisconsin band was there, too, so the place was rocking.  The game went back
and forth.  First, the Badgers scored, and then the Gophers, and Gophers
pulled ahead, but wait . . . Asher said anything could happen and it did.
The punter fumbled the snap and tried to kick the ball anyway instead of
just going in for a safety.  The Badgers got the ball and ran in for the
touchdown.

Boogie wanted to see a “Hail Mary” pass since that’s his favorite play when
he plays his video football game, but it was not to be.  The Gophers fumbled
the onside kick, the Badgers got the ball, and the red and white people
started celebrating.  The ax stays in Wisconsin another year.

I thought we would have to put Susan in a strait jacket to get her out of
the Dome without  assaulting any Badger fans.  The Badger fans weren’t
obnoxious or anything (the Iowa fans are), but Susan is a bad loser.

My son played football, baseball, basketball, he wrestled, and ran track and
field, so I’ve seen so many games – games we won by a lot, games we lost by
a lot, games that were close that we won, and games that were close that we
lost.  I’ve learned not to get emotionally involved with the game, because
within about one half hour after the game is over, it doesn’t matter
anymore.  I’ve seen so many parents, and Gopher fans, too, go ballistic when
their team doesn’t win, but it’s a game, and it really is just that.  So,
Susan won’t be able to go to the boys’ games (if they play sports.
Although, I think they will, because Boogie LOVES basketball and practices
all the time, and the little one has the biggest thighs you’ve ever seen,
and we can all see him being a good running back, just like his dad ).

Boogie was aware the Gophers lost, but he didn’t seem to mind.  And the
little one took a nap in the fourth quarter amidst all the cheering, and he
didn’t care either.  There was an article in the paper yesterday about some
parents who were protesting the selection of players for some bantam hockey
teams (12-13 year olds).  There are parents in the suburbs who are trying to
organize rules that ban Sunday games and practices.  What has happened with
to youth sports?  We used to take our gloves and baseball bats and go to a
diamond on a playground and play with NO parents and or tournaments.  We
used to go ice skating OUTSIDE at a playground rink just for fun.  Kids used
to throw a football around with no adult supervision.

Why are parents so over-involved in youth sports?  When you’re 50, like me,
it doesn’t matter if you played hockey on a traveling team when you were 10
years old, does it?  And really, no matter how many teams you’re on, no
matter if your parents call the couch of the team every 10 minutes to tell
him what to do, it comes down to genetics.  If you are unable physically to
play the game at its highest level, then enjoy it for what it is, a game.
And, parents, you can’t change genetics.

And so we left the big time college football game in the Dome.  It was a
crushing loss, but the day was wonderful, and we got to take the bus back
through the U of M campus again, where all the students in their gold shirts
got off the bus to study, to party, to hang out on this gorgeous day.  The
ax was heading back to Wisconsin and we were heading to Mirror of Korea to
enjoy a late lunch.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

Men say that in this midnight hour,
The disembodièd have power
To wander as it liketh them,
By wizard oak and fairy stream.
~William Motherwell