Congratulate me, I just survived my 25-year high school reunion

Ah, the old hometown, where the ups and downs of the local economy can be directly tied to whether the football team wins or loses.

Actually, several classes reuned in conjunction with the school's homecoming, which kind of added to the weirdness factor. The Class of '56 and my Class of '81 were allegedly the special honorees, and I got the feeling some of my old classmates were embarrassed by the antics of their parents.

I was almost shocked no one from my age group started any trouble -- there were a few rowdies back then; it seems we've mellowed as we hit middle age -- as were others, apparently. One of my old classmates pointed to a couple of former football players who used to take great pleasure in terrorizing us "band pussies" way back when and said, "There's 99.9 percent of the reason I hate this town." (I had run-ins with both during the Carter Administration. While the results of those encounters were inconclusive at best, someone did remark about how hard it was to pry my fingers from their throats.)

One of the old bullies actually greeted me by name. The other seemingly expected a resumption of hostilities on at least some level; I've got about 50 pounds on him now. I simply ignored him.

It probably helped that I was only in town for about 10 hours (and only had two beers).

As one would expect, some time was spent catching up with other old grads. One of the cheerleaders from my class (she shot me down more than once) is now the mother of the starting quarterback. The chesty twirler from long ago (I never even tried with her) also has a son playing, and there were six or seven other names on the roster that were the same as someone I went to school with. I don't know how these people got so old; I'm way too young to have a kid in high school.

As for Saturday's homecoming game, it was definitely worth the price of admission. Even if I did claim I was covering it so I could sit in the air-conditioned pressbox (99 degrees a half-hour before kickoff).

After trailing all the way, my school scored with 16 seconds left and made a two-point coversion to win 28-27. Both teams employed power running games and each had only seven possessions, so the game moved pretty quickly even with the half-hour homecoming halftime.

The visitors scored on all three of their first-half possessions to take a 21-8 lead. It looked like the game would turn into a blowout when the cheerleader's kid threw an interception on the second play of the third quarter, but the visitors proceeded to lose 6 yards and were forced to punt for the only time all night. The kick was downed at the 1, but my old school went 99 yards in 19 plays to make it 21-14 with a minute left in the third.

After the visitors turned it over on downs, the home team put together another long drive, scoring with 2:30 to go only to come up short on the two-point try.

The visitors looked like they were going to run out the clock, needing one more first down to put it away, when their stud tailback popped a 48-yard TD run with 1:01 remaining. They missed the PAT, setting up one hell of a finish.

The home team returned the kickoff to the visitors' 44-yard line, but had 49 seconds and no timeouts to pull off the comeback. The cheerleader's kid hit a short pass, then scrambled for 26 yards to set up the go-ahead score.

Even then, it took one more big play to secure the victory. The visitors' return man let the squib kick skip past him all the way to the goal line and was only able to return it to the 14. With 10 seconds left, the visiting quarterback launched a pass to midfield, where the grandson of my high school principal made a leaping interception. The kid managed to run out the clock on the return.

To say there was cheering in the pressbox (not by me, understand) would be an understatement. The guy who was my biology teacher and track coach said it was the greatest game he'd ever been a part of, and he spent nearly 30 years with the football program as a player and coach. The goober from the local bi-weekly scrapbook was sticking his head out the window screaming at the fans to get on their feet.

All this just reminded me of why I got the hell out of that pissant town. It was fun to visit for a few hours, but there's no way in hell I could ever live there again.

 

1. I was 1-year old when you graduated from high school.
2. You used to be a "band pussy"?
3. Leave it to a sportswriter to sum up his high school reunion by giving the board play-by-play of the actual game. Don't you know we want details on you hooking up with former classmates?

 

Isn't it past your bedtime?

 

Nope.
1. I've been drinking.
2. The Seahawks looked like the 2001 Mariners, choking all the way home.
3. I don't have to be to work until 2:15.

 

My 25th is coming up next summer. I can't wait.
The 20th was cool ... held at a casino/hotel complex.
Visiting with all the old gang is a hoot, for me anyway.
Hope we go back to a casino for 25th.
I'll be up all nite.

 

Ya'll just old, sorry.

 

Did you rent an Escalade for the occasion?

 

The only HS reunion I ever went to was my fifth. There were a lot of 4-year-old kids running around at it.

 

I can't imagine going to my reunion (25 this year). High school was a miserable experience for me. I am not sure, that I could remember the names of 4 people I went to school with. My wife's high school time was much different. She and her sister were sitting around recently playing the "who taught what class" game and the remembered almost all their teachers over the 3 years they were in high school.

I was able to recall one. I am sure a shrink would have a field day with me as I have obviously blocked it all out.

So why go back and be reminded of all that? I wouldn't recognize anyone, or remember them if they recognized me.

I do find it a bit hard to swallow that I have been out of high school 25 years and have a child who will graduate this year. I did not get that old, so I can't understand how so many years went by so quickly.

 

Sirs, Madames,

I opted out of my 20th back in '94. The friends I had in high school I still stayed in touch with. I still lived five minutes from my old school. Nobody I particularly cared to renew stuff with. By other accounts the best-looking women aged horribly, the assholes remained assholes. When called by a cheerleader from way back, I told her that I had to cover a hockey game most Saturday nights. My dumb luck, the Leafs were on the road the night of the reunion. So I found a game to cover--in Owen Sound (JJ!), the Platers hosting the 0-17 London Knights. Bad as the Knights were, they were only the second worst bunch of losers among my options.

YHS, etc

 

Interesting question about reunions... I graduated in 99, one year early from H.S. ( I know, I get the big cookie), but all my "friends" graduated in 00, and I was still in most of the "memories" pictures for that class. I have no ties with the class of 99, but have some pretty close ties with 00. If I attend a reunion, which is a slim-to-none chance anyway, which one can or should I attend?