No Mas

After last Tuesday’s classes at the Y I knew I was sick, but the heater repairman was scheduled to come “between 2 and 4” (and I was sick enough to actually believe that). Around 4 I called Leslie and told here she would have to come home and wait for the repairman because I was going to bed.

She did, I did, and I didn’t get up again until late Thursday. The only reason I got up then was I remembered that the last time I spent three days in bed I ended up with pneumonia. By Friday, however, I was feeling almost well, well enough to take Skye for his usual brisk 45 minute walk. By Saturday morning I was well enough to go see Gavin’s soccer game, go out and get a new thermostat, and install it.

I was even well enough to look forward to Saturday afternoon’s Huskies football game with Notre Dame, hoping this would be the first win of the year. I should have known better. I certainly should have known better when Notre Dame scored on their first possession. I did know better after they quickly scored their second goal mere minutes later. Before the end of the first quarter I began to feel as bad as I did Tuesday night. I hung on as long as I could, but at the end of the third quarter I told Leslie I’d had enough and handed her the TV controller and sought out the cold comfort of my computer screen.

I should know enough to avoid watching the Huskies anymore this season, but old habits die hard and I grew up watching their games with my Dad who played for them shortly. Graduating from The U probably didn’t help, either. The Huskies are the only team I’ll actually try to work vacations around. If I were a real fan I’d buy season tickets, but I’m not that much of a fan, especially when I remember the traffic jams after the game when I went to college there. And they’ve almost doubled the number of seats since then. If the Huskies are on TV, I’m going to watch the game! Is there any other reason to have cable TV?

I was one of those foolishly optimistic people who thought Ty Willingham should be given another year with “his players” to prove that he could win at the end of last season. Perhaps it’s because I see quite a lot of my Dad in Willingham. He’s a stand-up guy who builds his team on character. He’s “old school,” and it’s easy to see him in a Hemingway novel, living by “The Code.” And dying by it. Santiago’s got nothing on Ty. Who doesn’t admire the way he’s stood up to increasingly hostile Husky fan and sports writers.

Still, it’s hard to admire an 0-7 season. I’m tired of feeling like the driver who slows down on the freeway to look at a accident every time I turn on a Husky game. Can administrators deny Ty is “deadman walking?” They aren’t going to defy increasingly hostile supporters and retain him for another year. Of course, I’d feel sorrier for him if he wasn’t walking away with 1.5 million for the last year of his contract, more money than I made in my 30 years of teaching high school English.

The truth is that it’s nearly impossible to recruit the caliber of players this team needs to turn this program around as long as high school players think that Willingham might be back, not that it’s going to be much easier without knowing who the new head coach might be. But it’s pretty clear from the way this season has gone that recruiting isn’t one of Willingham’s strengths. Maybe not enough high school football players have read Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea.

Perhaps they just don’t want to go down with a sinking ship.

UPDATE: Apparently I wasn’t the only one who said “no mas,” as Coach Willingham was forced to resign today, but will finish out the season.

5 thoughts on “No Mas”

  1. I remember when the Huskies were up for a bowl game, Rose Bowl. We had single color Christmas light strands around our bushes when we lived in Renton. Among the strands were purple ones.

    Darn things kept getting stolen by Husky fans.

  2. I don’t think having to watch my beloved Huskies play the hated USC Trojans next week is going to make me feel a lot better, kenu ;-O !

  3. Me too. I keep asking myself “Why am I doing this?” every Saturday I can get a Husky game. Too many lately. I guess my feelings are almost a mirror image of yours, a sort of cruel addiction. I just hope Willingham gets a little luck before he leaves.
    He deserves to see them win a few…but with the way they’ve been playing lately, I despair. I am about to give in to wearing the Penn State hat with the Nittany lion (aka cougar) that Kathy got me.

Comments are closed.