The 123rd Edition of the Old Rivalry

I am not one of the bleeding hearts, who, while drooling, says, there was no looser Actually, Manual lost 31 to 28. Conversely, Male won 31 to 28. Having stated the obvious, allow me to say that even though my team lost I won. With the appropriate thanks to Grantland Rice: "When the one great scorer comes to mark against your name he writes not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game."

On Friday October 28, 2005, the one great scorer had a wonderful night marking against the names of the players who gave us the 123rd Edition of the Old Rivalry. It was A + all the way around. Trinity and St. X have become the darlings of the midway, drawing 30,000 people to their games. The process of success has been gradual and persistent. While the school board tinkered with the Rivalry for years, trying to figure some way to eliminate the game, both schools spiraled downward. Ho hum, who cares, the money moved to the East End. St. X moved to the East End abandoning the old building at Second and Broadway, and Trinity has always been in St. Matthews. I wont attempt to list all the horrors the Rivalry has been subjected to, but, along the way, we've suffered consolidation with Male, loss of regional school status (so did Male), busing, Male wanting to quit playing, and UL wanting to make Second and Lee a parking lot for the ever-expanding university. During the first year of busing, David Wright (the other David Wright) was a member of the band which went from 100 + members to 15 in one year, thus killing Marching Manual forever and two days. Now there is an insane move afoot to have a separate championship for private schools and public schools. What nonsense! You NEVER build up the weak by tearing down the strong. Socialism has reached high school sports and we have another, Equalization of Opportunity Act. Stupid nonsense.

But that is not the reason I write. I'm here to praise Caesar not to bury him. One year, Male had fewer than 20 people in the stands. At half time, I walked over to the Male side and sang, "Dear Old High School" with Nancy Secrest. Nancy was among five people who met in the locker room at Manual Stadium to plan for the battle to save the game. Neither school would let us in, yet, somehow, we were able to save the game.

Since the score board usually states that Male has more points than Manual, how can I believe that my team won? The answer is simple. When the game is played I win. Back To Menu