Manual 48 Atherton 50

Alright, I know I should have gotten the crew out of jail. It would have been the decent thing to do. When Tim's wife had to post $25,000.00 each, to get them out, I knew they would be angry because I told the judge to set a high bond but I never suspected they would immediately exact revenge. I know pay-backs are hell but I never imagined the vicious nature of their response.

Atherton is short handed. I respect the Atherton team, they play hard and they do their best. I figured Manual would win by you name the score. And I didn't want to go to the game and watch a massacre. Moreover Atherton has the worst football field in the county. It's over hills and dales and down in the valley. I remember the fog bowl one year when the game was suspended because no one could see after a blanket of fog settled on the field. On a clear night, if you stand on the top row of seats you're at eye level with the field. However because the teams stand along the sideline, nothing can be seen unless it happens in the middle of the field.

The Atherton Field has been named, "Jack Kleier Field." Jack was an athletic director at Manual before he transferred to Atherton. The current AD at Manual is a saloon guitar player. Since I'm trying to get him a record contract I can't say anything negative about him. I want my 10%, or is that 20%?

Atherton's Principal is John Hudson. He served with distinction at Manual as an assistant principal. Since I'm retired from high school football, especially Manual football, Atherton was one of the last places I wanted to spend Thursday night. But smooth talking Dave said it would be a beautiful night, I could say hello to Mr. Hudson and enjoy the fellowship of my friends. And since I live close to Atherton I could get home in a hurry if the game was a bore. Little did I know the invitation was part of the plot.

On the way down the hill to the field, a police car forced me off the road and into the grass where I stepped in a hole and sprained my ankle. Once back on the asphalt walkway, a car with a handicapped license forced me off the path and face first into a tree. When I got to the bleachers the crew pointed to a seat on the 50 yard line. In unison they announced, "We saved you a seat." It wasn't until after I sat down that I realized my seat was covered with broken glass. At half time with the score 48-13 I excused myself and went home. Back at my car I noticed someone had decorated it in red and white. The sign, someone put on the back of my car, announcing that Atherton was a `sissy school' was hard to read because of the eggs splatters. Only one of my tires had been slashed, for which I was grateful. Since I only have one spare, I would've had to call for help if they had all been flat.

Without any desperate phone calls at 6 a.m. I was able to sleep to 7:30. As soon as I got out of bed I put my pants on and went outside and got the paper, I wanted to check the final score. When I unrolled the paper I was shocked to see the headline announcing that Atherton had rallied and won the game 50 to 48. I kicked the paper and yelled. The dog took off running and Beverly's favorite lamp was broken in several pieces by the flying paper.


I slumped over in the hall and started singing the song David sung two weeks ago after I dropped him off at the mental hospital. A few minutes later Beverly arrived and asked what I was doing drooling on the floor. I mumbled something about an Atherton come back. She didn't believe me so I pointed at the paper. She gently picked the paper out of the shards of glass and opened it. After reading a few seconds she started laughing. That was all that was needed. I hate it when someone laughs at my misfortune and depression. When she caught her breath she said, "You're an idiot. Just look at the font, it's different than the fonts in the rest of the paper. The Old Goats are punishing you for not getting them out of jail. They went to Kinko's and had a phoney front page printed and put on the newspaper. What a great joke!"

I wasn't impressed; "You think I'm an idiot, you're the one who doesn't have a clue, Font hasn't coached at Manual in years so it had to be a different font."

When I finally got to the office my secretary checked the score on the internet and Bev was right, it was a sick joke ˜ a very sick joke. Back To Menu