Mike Rosier

Last Thursday (11/22/08) I was in bad need of some inspiration.

After learning last year - the HARD way - to never, ever guarantee a victory (if you were not reading then, I arrogantly guaranteed a win in our annual family football game and even offered my column space as collateral should we lose - and we lost), as the head coach of the Rosier Football League Trojans I had to turn elsewhere for a hook.

But by now, my players had heard every Gipper speech ever written (and some that should never be recorded). And still, despite my oratory, we'd managed to lose nine times of 10 games.

In other words, I was desperate - for anything that might provide a spark.

We were in a dark hole. We're talking Mines of Moria dark, folks.

That's where the Wardlaw Patriots come into the picture.

They entered my mind like a bolt of lightning.

The last time the Patriots had won a state title was in 2003, the very same year in which we were last victorious. And they rolled through this season undefeated.

Suddenly, the impossible was possible.

We could actually do this. Thank you Patriots.

As usual, we had to make some personnel adjustments before kickoff.

Mr. Jeff, my step dad, decided that his bones could no longer take the pounding of the RFL so he "retired" to the booth (the bed of his truck) where he records the games (I think he's holding out for a better contract next year). Starting quarterback - gone, five minutes before game time.

Things weren't looking good for us.

And they didn't get better with me under center as I threw an interception on like the second play of the game. After that things went downhill a bit after it appeared that we were going to follow the same old script - Trojans fall in early hole, battle back valiantly, run out of steam and lose big.

But a funny thing happened.

We started believing.

I let my wife, Sheila, take over at quarterback and the offense (we run the mini Wing-T the best) started humming. We started scoring pretty much at will and holding the Mean Geans down.
I must admit to all that my best friend and Mean Gean star, Rob McFadden, was not present and accounted for as he was hosting his family Thanksgiving at the new digs across town.
Without his speed attacking us vertically, the game slowed down.

That was to our advantage and we rolled with it.

Also, my brother, Mark, was subbing in and out of the game with my sister's boyfriend Tyler (we had uneven teams) so we only had to face him every other play.

It definitely made the contest much more evenly matched than it had been in the past. Passes that were usually caught by the Mean Geans weren't.

Passes we usually dropped were caught.

I had the game of my life.

Then there I was, tight-roping the sideline.

If I stayed in bounds I would score and the streak would be over.

What do you think happened?

All I can remember is thinking was how good winning again was going to feel. We are actually going to win the Turkey Bowl after five long, hard years. And at long last it was over.

I'm not going to try to rub the victory in my brother's face because they played a good game and just came up short without one of their best players - no shame there.

I know that the Mean Geans (who wanted an immediate re-match played on Friday, by the way) will push to make sure Rob is there next time. Things will be tougher next time.

But that's fine.

We welcome the challenge.

Bring it.