Last night, while sorting through old papers deciding what to keep and
what to throw away, I came upon a treasure trove of very bad poetry that I'm sure I
wrote over 30 years ago. Some of it I can remember writing while in college,
some of it when I was a public defender, and then there is some that I haven't
a clue when I wrote. I decided not to throw it away. Perhaps someday my
grandchildren can have a laugh about what an abominable poet their granddad was.
I did write at least one poem that I’m not embarrassed to share. It’s a poem about a football game between the
Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Florida State University Seminoles. Perhaps
someone can enlighten me as to when the poem was written and who the FSU coach
was at the time of the game. I think I know the identity of the coach, but I
could be wrong. Anyway, here’s the poem:
The Noles
went to Nebraska, And they really went to play.
They fought
them to a standstill on that chilly autumn day.
The Huskers
were the first to strike, they rolled up fourteen points.
The Noles
weren’t beat ‘cause they were just unlimbering their joints.
The Noles
came back and scored fifteen. They did just what they oughter.
The Huskers
found themselves behind beginning the fourth quarter.
The Noles
got three, they did so well, the score was now eighteen.
Nebraska
took the ball and ran it down the field so green.
They started
on their twenty, and they drove down to the three.
They pushed
and fought and scrapped and tried to win the victory.
The
Seminoles they bowed their backs and shut the Huskers down,
And they
were winners tall and proud when they left Husker town.
The poem makes it painfully obvious that I am no Grantland Rice, but I
enjoyed re-reading this piece of doggerel that I penned so long ago. I thought
maybe a Seminole fan might get some enjoyment from it, too. Somebody please let
me know when this game was played and who coached the FSU team to victory.
Hi Bob, enjoyed reading this poem! I am not a historian, but I would bet this game was played in 1980, in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers were ranked #3 at the time, and it was Coach Bowden's 4th year as head coach at FSU. Nebraska jumped out to an early 14 point lead, before FSU came back to win 18-14. FSU was ranked I think #18 or somewhere along those lines, so it was a big win for us. I was only 4 years old at the time so have no memory of the game, of course, but I remember Coach Bowden talking about this game one day when we were playing golf a few years back, and I went back to look it up and read about it. A friend of mine, Keith Jones, was a safety in that game for FSU and had an interception. He talks fondly of that game and how the Husker fans are the classiest in the game. After FSU had beaten the Huskers, the crowd cheered for FSU, and that tradition was born on that day. Since then, the Huskers cheer the opposing players as they exit the field after the game. Keith Jones and Coach Bowden could sure tell a lot of good football stories. Take care and thanks for the reminder of that game!
ReplyDeleteDerriel: I was pretty sure it was Bobby Bowdoin who was the coach, but I couldn't remember when the game was played. As I recall, that was the year that the Seminoles had a killer road schedule and won most of them. I think they beat Auburn that year, too. The newspapers were calling Bowdoin "King of the Road" that year.
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