Day 73

The Paper Football Championships 1991-1992.
St. Lawrence Division.
8th Grade.

It had gotten to the point in our classroom that we could pretty much do whatever we wanted in our class. Our teacher had come up with us from 7th grade, which was rare. By this time she had been with us for over a year and a half. I think she just gave up trying with us. The group dynamic was such that there was too much going on individually with certain kids that it made it seem as if the entire group was this way. Let's just put it this way. We made her cry. During a school day our class was completely shut down as the students vented to the teacher and vice versa. We started handing out tissues to the kids and the teacher who was crying. I remember looking around at my classmates wondering, "Is this really happening?" It did.

With this came a compromise. We ran her into the ground and so began the start of professional goofing off. This culminated in the start up of a league. We were rogue at first, taking pick-up games and the such, but eventually we got organized. It came about because of the design of the ultimate fiddling toy. The paper football.

Our desk were the perfect surface for such a sport. Once two desks faced each other and were pushed together we had our field. Surfaces collided perfectly to make the 50 yard line and it was a smooth enough connection that it made the game more than playable. We all made our own footballs. I just made one myself just right now as I write this posting. So easy to do. And with the right amount of scotch tape we were off. I am going to say it was a 8-10 man league with a regular season and playoffs. Everyone played each other once. Games were first to score 100. Touchdowns worth 6 points. Extra points worth 1. Field Goals worth 3. Oh the drama that ensued.

If you have ever played with a paper football you know that it is a game of touch and consistency. Once you lose the flow you are more than capable of missing 4-5 extra points in a row. Many a game was lost due to the lack of a good kicking game for some of my fellow students. I was not one of those people my friends. I had talent. I had skill. I could flick my middle finger with the best of them my friend. I could take an eye out. I in fact did damage to a few faces with my lethal kicks.

Over the course of the regular season I believe I only lost once which made me a top seed going into the playoffs. It was crunch time. Oh by the way. No girls were allowed to play. Check that. No girls wanted to play cause why would they? They were girls and had better things to do than mess with a paper football for God's sake. We were insane.

End of the school year coming up. We were losing opportunities to get in our games during school sessions. This is were I made my only mistake of the year. If I recall The four of us in the semi-finals of the Paper Football playoffs were my friends, Ryan, Matt, myself and Charlie. I was matched up against Charlie. Odds on had Ryan and myself going on to meet in the championship. The games were played simultaneously. I could hear the roar of the fellow league members that were no longer alive in the postseason as they screamed over at Ryan and Matt's table. Charlie and I were left to our own devices. Then it happened.

We went to lunch and we had our footballs with us of course. Charlie asked me if I wanted to continue the match at the lunch table. I had built a nice lead up in the classroom and felt confident. We got approval from the league office and we had our sanctioned playoff game on a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SURFACE.

I kept taking hit after hit after hit. I couldn't recover as Charlie regained the lead and piled it on in the lunch room. My kickoffs went out of bounds. I couldn't make a field goal to save my life. Once we made it back to the friendly confines of my home field desk I could not make the comeback. Charlie had taken out the top seed. he later lost in the Championship to Ryan as expected. I was defeated. I spent the next few days filing an appeal. The match was not legit. We played on a bad surface. No one else had played on the lunch room tables all year. Why was I being punished? I could feel the title within my grasps and just like that gone in an instant.

I once cleared the entire length of the classroom with a field goal. My friend who was being the goal posts at the time couldn't believe what he had just seen. The talent was there, but my mind wasn't right. I had relied too much on pure skill and not enough on mental toughness. I still want that moment back. I want to say to 13 year old me. Don't play the game in the lunchroom. It's not regulation length and it's too much for your overwhelming strength.

I will have my revenge one day.

Rabble Rock!

P.S. This is all true according to my memory. May have mixed up some of the players, but if you were with me back in those days holla at your boy. :)