The Pee-Wee League
‘Twas the fall football season, and once again the Pee-Wee League took to the gridiron for some good old-fashioned sport, leading up to the championship game in early November.
This year the Pine Place Pees featured an exciting new player who, it seems, had come into his growth kind of early and really stood out among the other 8-to-10 year olds — fella listed on the roster as Dick Butkus. Well, the Pees got off to a really good start, dominating their first 2 games quite handily. “Yessir,” said the coach, “he’s only one player, same as all the others, and he has to play by the same rules while wearing the same equipment, but some kids have just got natural talent.”
Then their long-time rivals, the Wendigo Way Wees, who’d been having a pretty mediocre season up to that point, introduced their newest player. “Yeah, he just moved to town and wanted to fling the old pigskin around a little,” explained the coach, introducing the new kid on the block, also kind of big for his age. And young Mr. Nitschke proved to be just the tonic the Wees had needed.
Sure enuf, the championship game once again came down to the Pees vs. the Wees, and it was a thrilling affair all right. The pop of the helmets, pads, and knees; the shrieks of what I’m going to call joy; the blood, sweat, blood, tears, and blood; the sportsmanship evident by each coach playing absolutely every kid on the roster; the selfless community service of the volunteer medics; and the dedication to duty of the ambulance drivers, some of whom made 3 and 4 trips back. “And I predict that most of these kids will walk again some day,” one of them observed in passing.
In the end, it was hard to say who had won, since there were only 2 players left standing, the aforementioned Walker and Burke ... ooops, ha ha ha, did I say that out loud? I meant Butkus and Nitschke, of course.
But it was all in the name of good, clean fun, and you can bet all the kids took home a valuable lesson in the virtues of fair play.
This year the Pine Place Pees featured an exciting new player who, it seems, had come into his growth kind of early and really stood out among the other 8-to-10 year olds — fella listed on the roster as Dick Butkus. Well, the Pees got off to a really good start, dominating their first 2 games quite handily. “Yessir,” said the coach, “he’s only one player, same as all the others, and he has to play by the same rules while wearing the same equipment, but some kids have just got natural talent.”
Then their long-time rivals, the Wendigo Way Wees, who’d been having a pretty mediocre season up to that point, introduced their newest player. “Yeah, he just moved to town and wanted to fling the old pigskin around a little,” explained the coach, introducing the new kid on the block, also kind of big for his age. And young Mr. Nitschke proved to be just the tonic the Wees had needed.
Sure enuf, the championship game once again came down to the Pees vs. the Wees, and it was a thrilling affair all right. The pop of the helmets, pads, and knees; the shrieks of what I’m going to call joy; the blood, sweat, blood, tears, and blood; the sportsmanship evident by each coach playing absolutely every kid on the roster; the selfless community service of the volunteer medics; and the dedication to duty of the ambulance drivers, some of whom made 3 and 4 trips back. “And I predict that most of these kids will walk again some day,” one of them observed in passing.
In the end, it was hard to say who had won, since there were only 2 players left standing, the aforementioned Walker and Burke ... ooops, ha ha ha, did I say that out loud? I meant Butkus and Nitschke, of course.
But it was all in the name of good, clean fun, and you can bet all the kids took home a valuable lesson in the virtues of fair play.
posted by Richard S. Russell | 9:57 PM
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