The Big Game

This is it. This is what the kids have been working so hard for.

The Montana State Class "C" Football Championship will be played right here.**

The opponent is Drummond, a team in their league. A team they haven't beaten since I've lived here. A team that has won the championship three years running.

The good news is that the game will be played in Sheridan and the Panthers seem to have peaked at the right time, beating the number one seed (and arch rival) Twin Bridges Falcons in the first round in double overtime and then rolling over the Sunburst Refiners (no, I'm not making that up) and the Stanford Wolves.

The bad news is that the number one QB for Sheridan is out of action with a punctured lung, and another good player is out with a dislocated elbow.

But, as Christ Chris Berman is fond of saying, "That's why they play da' game."

At last weeks game against Stanford, I sat in the stands and was forced to listen to the announcer mis-announce penalty enforcements. Things like watching the referee signal illegal procedure and hearing, "Encroachment on ..." Oy.

Mrs. Ref was rather amused at my disbelief. So she had a chat with Mr. Announcer Dude, and I will be "up in the booth" (so to speak) for this game advising him, correctly, on what the officials are doing.

I'm trying not to think about the implications of that. For as often as I've trashed announcers here, I'm now going to be one of them for a bit. This could turn out like my journey to the priesthood. From the pews, I knew it all. Move me up front and put a cassock on me and it's a whole different story. I'll let you know how it goes.

**This just baffles me. Throughout the playoffs, the lower seeded team travels to the higher seeded home field. It's what they call Home Field Advantage for winning more games. Sheridan (5-2) traveled to Twin (7-0), and to Sunburst. But now, for the Championship, Drummond (6-1) will travel to Sheridan. While I'm glad that we don't have to travel, I have to wonder if this decision was made my upper management.