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.