We went to see the big game.\u00a0 We carried truncheons wrapped in razor wire.\u00a0 The opposing fans had boards with nails.\u00a0 The rivalry was older than any of us, though the other team had gained the edge the last few years.\u00a0 We thought our luck might change.\u00a0 Our boys were hungry.\u00a0 They had hustle.\u00a0 But the other boys could fly.\u00a0 They could cut and burn.<\/p>\n
Things were close early on.\u00a0 Our boys pushed one way, their boys the other.\u00a0 Replays were shown on the jumbo screen.\u00a0 The opposing mascot came to our side of the field and, with gestures, told us what we could do with ourselves.\u00a0 We admired the cheerleaders\u2019 new tattoos.\u00a0 Someone tossed our mascot a truncheon, and he let the other mascot have it.<\/p>\n
There were the usual ruckuses: a dustup at the snack bar, a scrap near the scoreboard.\u00a0 We\u2019d been practicing with the truncheons all week, but those boards packed a wallop.\u00a0 Whenever our boys scored, we did the victory chant: wazoo-wazoo-wazoo-way!\u00a0 The mascots got into it again at halftime, a big ball of fur and feathers.<\/p>\n
The guy sitting next to me said he\u2019d dated one of the cheerleaders, a nice girl who\u2019d lacked certain advantages growing up.\u00a0 The beer man came around.\u00a0 We\u2019d been drinking heavily but really knocked them back at halftime. \u00a0We kept the bottles to throw at the other teams\u2019 mascot.\u00a0 The guy sitting next to me took off his shirt and waved at the cheerleader, who pretended not to see.<\/p>\n
There was more scoring the second half.\u00a0 We snuck around to the opposing side and pummeled the couples making love beneath the stands.\u00a0 Some of them were ready for us, though, and gave as good as they got.\u00a0 The other team was starting to come back.\u00a0 We had to respect their moxie.\u00a0 The crowd above us chanted: oogee-oogee-oogee-i!<\/p>\n
The game ended inconclusively.\u00a0 There was a problem with the referees.\u00a0 As we left the stadium, the announcer assured us things would be reviewed over the next few days.\u00a0 The ambulances lined up at the gate.\u00a0 The hearses waited at the end of the western tunnel.\u00a0 Over by security, they filled a box with contraband: some box cutters, some ice picks, a machete or two.\u00a0 We decried the opposing fans\u2019 inability to play by the rules.<\/p>\n
In the parking lot, two guys talked about the game.\u00a0 \u201cHell of a game,\u201d the first guy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess,\u201d said the second.<\/p>\n
The first guy shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cProbably better next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d agreed the second guy.\u00a0 \u201cJust wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
We went to see the big game.\u00a0 We carried truncheons wrapped in razor wire.\u00a0 The opposing fans had boards with nails.\u00a0 The rivalry was older than any of us, though the other team had gained the edge the last few years.\u00a0 We thought our luck might change.\u00a0 Our boys were hungry.\u00a0 They had hustle.\u00a0 But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[20],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-wp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10483,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions\/10483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}