Sunday, September 23, 2012

When Lions Were Kings II

Game 2 in 1968 took us to Ogden, Utah.  After a 58-0 opening game win, you can imagine that the coaches had trouble convincing us we were human.  We found out we were on a hot Friday afternoon in Utah.

It was an odd game.  First of all, I hated day games.  I mean, high school football is meant to played at night.  You know, like Friday Night Lights.  We had 4 day games that season that season -- 2 in Pocatello, 1 in Twin Falls and this one in Ogden.  This game didn't feel like a real game.  But it was, and we almost didn't wake up soon enough.  Another odd thing, at least for Borah teams, was that Ogden was stubborn all three times we got inside the 10-yard line.  On our first drive we had to kick a field goal, and the next 2 drives I called pass plays on third down.  Fortunately, Don Minter and B.J. Johnson made catches both times.  Ogden scored 3 times in the first half and we were down 19-16 at half.  You can read the article below.  We had a big second half.  Between Tom Hickey and me we threw 5 touchdown passes, which was a school record at the time for td passes in a game.

Years later, maybe 10 years ago, I heard an interesting story from my parents.  Student buses were taken to the game, and Mom and Dad were chaperones on one of them.  They still remembered it over 30 years later.  Mom particularly remembered the girls singing much of the way back, including some of the songs from the Sound of music.

Speaking of singing, I remember getting on the bus and after games at Bronco stadium and John Steppe leading us in singing the Borah alma mater. I think there might have been another song that got sung, too, with lyrics that probably weren't family friendly.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Words from Joni: A Place of Healing

In July of 1967, Joni Eareckson (Now Joni Eareckson Tada) was in a diving accident that left her a quadriplegic.  Now she has a ministtry known as Join and friends: www.joniandfriends.org  She is a singer, artist (she draws with the brush between her teeth), has a radio show, heads a ministry and writes books. Her most recent book is A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering. The following is from her book, where she is quoting Dave Powlison of Christian Couneling Education in a letter he wrote to Joni discussing his own battle with cancer.

               Joni, I have learned that for every one sentence you sat to others about your cancer, say ten      sentences about your God, your hope, and what he is teaching you, and the small blessings of each day.  For every hour you spend researching or discussing your cancer, spend ten hours researching, discussing and serving your Lord.  Relate all that you are learning about cancer back to Him and His purposes, and you won't become obsessed [with fears and doubts].
       
    


             

Saturday, September 15, 2012

When Lions were Kings

It was September 6, 1968.  What a year. Headlines and entertainment up to that point had been about the Tet Offensive, Martin Luther King, Nixon, LBJ, Black Power, RFK, Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray, "The whole world is watching", Detroit Tigers, O.J. Simpson, Lee Trevino, Billie Jean King, Bob Beamon, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Jefferson Airplane, Laugh In, The Smothers Brothers, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Rosemary's Baby.
The weather was warm that Friday.
The student body had just listened to an hour talk by Ann Landers -- remember that?
We were out in the Borah High parking lot, heading home to rest before coming back to dress for the opener against Nampa.
I couldn't believe my ears.  Did Bill Cady just say 'We're seniors now.  It's up to us.  This is scary."
Wait.  If Bill says that, we are in deep doodoo.  Me?  I was terrified.  After all, the coaches had us convinced that the team we were playing was comparable to the Green Bay Packers.  You may recall that the "Pack" won 5 NFL titles in the 1960's.
After dressing and having a team meeting, we did what Borah teams had done for years on game night before boarding the bus to ride to Bronco stadium: We lay down on the floor of the gym for 30 minutes--with the lights out.
We were told to think about the game.  My mind chose to think, "You're going to get killed out there."
It went a little better than our worst fears.  We won 58-0.
Forty-four years ago.  Seems like only yesterday.  Unfortunately, these days, yesterday sometimes seems like forty-four years ago.