multistage
Club Member
As some of you saw, I got to hang with Vern Den Herder last July.
He lives 25 miles from me. A mutual friend set it up.
For those of you you who do not know who he is, he was a DE when we ruled the Earth. An original No Namer.
As a player, he wondered about the fans.
So I told him:
"Vern, you can have the week from Hell. You lost your job. The woman has had enough and left. Your car is broke down, but who cares, because you don't have enough money to put fuel in it. The bills are due. And you have no prospects of fixing things."
"But Sunday comes. You catch a ride to church. You put 20 bucks in the pot that you can't afford. But you do it anyway, because you know there are folks who would love to be in your shoes. And then you get home after church. You turn on the TV, and sweet Jesus, your beloved Dolphins are on. And they are playing the detested Jets or Patriots."
"And they smite 'em something fierce."
"They rule the day there in the Orange Bowl. And after it's over, you watch the second game to catch the highlights again. All the way to Mike Wallace and 60 minutes. And when you hear that stopwatch, you know football is over. And you still have the problems you had yesterday."
"But you think about what your Dolphins did today. You recall how they ruled their world. And you think about your problems, and say, I'm good now. I'll be OK now. Because Miami won today."
"Vern, THAT'S what your team does for you."
And he smiled and said, "I'd always kind of hoped so."
He lives 25 miles from me. A mutual friend set it up.
For those of you you who do not know who he is, he was a DE when we ruled the Earth. An original No Namer.
As a player, he wondered about the fans.
So I told him:
"Vern, you can have the week from Hell. You lost your job. The woman has had enough and left. Your car is broke down, but who cares, because you don't have enough money to put fuel in it. The bills are due. And you have no prospects of fixing things."
"But Sunday comes. You catch a ride to church. You put 20 bucks in the pot that you can't afford. But you do it anyway, because you know there are folks who would love to be in your shoes. And then you get home after church. You turn on the TV, and sweet Jesus, your beloved Dolphins are on. And they are playing the detested Jets or Patriots."
"And they smite 'em something fierce."
"They rule the day there in the Orange Bowl. And after it's over, you watch the second game to catch the highlights again. All the way to Mike Wallace and 60 minutes. And when you hear that stopwatch, you know football is over. And you still have the problems you had yesterday."
"But you think about what your Dolphins did today. You recall how they ruled their world. And you think about your problems, and say, I'm good now. I'll be OK now. Because Miami won today."
"Vern, THAT'S what your team does for you."
And he smiled and said, "I'd always kind of hoped so."