Dateline Normal: " The Biggest Score---the Longest Game"-----FICTION

Recently I sat through a football game. A really lopsided affair. In fact, the game was over quickly in the first five minutes when fans saw our hometeam slicing through the opponent like butter.

The funniest part was with 16 seconds to go in the first half, with the hometeam leading by 35 points, a timeout was called. I was in disbelief. The coach had the hope that one more score could be launched before halftime.

It was just not like I remember it in the old days------- Why back in the 60's our old coach had three squads and rotated them throughout the game. One, Two Three he used to shout.
Everyone got to play. Win or lose. Nowdays, no matter how tired the starters were, or how many concussions they had, they were in there.

Usually when I do not understand some local matter, I pick up the phone and call my old friend, Herman, the countryboylawyer from Normal, Mn.----he is a trained lawyer and sits on the Normal School Board in Normal, a small fishing village just south of Garrison, Mn., and west of Lake Woebegone.

"Herman what do I not understand. Something must have changed.?"

Herman just laughed. "Shucks, Wolfman (that's what he always called me), nowdays coaches are compensated on a total points system. Yes........ there is a flat yearly stipend---but there are bonuses for so many points per game, per half, points per season, as well as the number of points scored against by opponents.

"If that coach had got just one more touchdown before halftime, he might have qualified for a $1000 bonus. It was a real moxie move."

"But what happened to sportsmanship.....and .....what happened to the old "mercy rule", where coaches were required to play third stringers after the points had reached 35."

"The days of mercy are over, Wolfman. It's just pure free enterprise. Only the first stringers get to play these days. "

I was just stunned.

I always did like the old rotation though. The games were real exciting to watch. Nowdays, the excitement is whether the coach will keep playing the first stringers after their second concussion. Now that is a real crowd thumper.