ANIMAL CRACKERS. Nothing could be fina than relaxing on a friend’s deck overlooking Lake Greeson, Sunday afternoon.
It was a splendid but very windy day, and there were at least a half-dozen Bald Eagles circling below us in the hurricane wind that was whipping whitecap waves across the channel.
I am always impressed at how brilliant the eagles’ white heads and tailfeathers are. These birds were really big, but not big enough to carry me off.
Neither could they have carried off the officials at the Mineral Springs-Dierks football game of last week. I just didn’t have room to write about them before now but I was pretty sure you’d want to know more about it when I got a chance.
Three of the four officials could wear my clothes. Short and stumpy would good descriptive words. (MY words. I’m sure they’d rather have themselves described as ‘husky’ or ‘burly.’)
By midway through the third quarter they were having a hard time keeping up with the flatbellied 17-year-olds who were playing the game. I didn’t have any complaints about their calls, however.
The Scrapper Curse
That is not the case for a bunch of Ashdown fans who just cannot believe that the Dadgum Scrappers once again rallied to beat their Beloved Panthers.
This year the Panthers were undefeated and were reportedly loaded with college prospects. The team and fans, band and cheerleaders were supremely confident.
The Scrappers had already lost three times, including (what was at one time called) an upset loss to De Queen.
I watched the long line of Ashdown fan vehicles arrive at Scrapper Stadium at dusk, Friday. They brought a good-sized and spirited crowd.
I don’t want to stir things up, but many of their vehicles were decorated in puke purple and yuck yeller.
I respectfully decline to write more about those particular fans and their taste in decorations because — as I said — I do not want to stir up any animosity between the two towns.
They were very confident that THIS was the year they would beat the Dadgum Scrappers. In fact their team was ahead at halftime and in the third quarter, as usual, before the Scrapper Curse arrived at The Hill.
Most of the Panther fans are pretty sure that Nashville paid off the officials who were so nit-picky about every little thing the Panthers did, and at the same time were very forgiving — possibly even blind — to any of the many Scrapper infractions which were so obvious from the visitors’ stands.
My shocked reaction to Panther claims of bad officiating sent me straight to Eddie Cobb, the math whiz on our weekly group of expert football predictors. I knew Eddie would set the record straight.
Eddie is a former Scrapper; had a son who was a Scrapper; and he has been a member of Scrapper Stadium pressbox crew for at least two decades. He has been a living link between Scrapper sports and this newspaper for at least that long.
I tell you all of this so that you’ll believe me when I say that Eddie’s observation is not biased in any way.
Eddie, I asked, did they get a raw deal on calls?
Naw, he replied.
So there. Proof that the officiating was not bad.
The truth is that Arkansas high school football officiating is pretty good, even though it is kinda hard for plump referees to run up and down the field with a bunch of 17-year-olds.
Over the years, I, myself, have encountered only very rare instances of really poor officiating.
By coincidence, all of those were by moron officials who were obviously prejudiced against the Scrappers, and whose judgment was more than likely influenced by cash gifts from fans and school administrators of the other side. A pox be upon them.
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HEAVENLY. Arctic conditions shortened my walk Tuesday morning, but not before I saw a swell yellow meteor sweep across the sky. Notable: the mornings are staying dark longer and longer each day. And the stars have never been brighter.
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AREN’T YOU GLAD we’ve got Howard Memorial Hospital? In 2016 HMH installed 167 safe, correct baby seats in vehicles of local new parents. And they hosted safe baby showers for five moms at the county health unit. In more ways than you can imagine, Howard Memorial Hospital is enriching your life.
Tell your congressmen and senators that you want them to protect our rural Arkansas hospitals.
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THINGS I LEARNED from opening email: Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.
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WORD GAMES. The Twins: High and Mighty.
In their own minds they are better than everyone else.
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HE SAID: “O, thou art fairer than the evening air clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.” Christopher Marlowe, poet and translator
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SHE SAID: “A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked.” Anais Nin, writer
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
