Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback #9: The Great, the Good, the Bad, and the Sad

#5 Michigan Wolverines 42 – #14 Penn State Nittany Lions 7

Welcome to the ninth episode of Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback! Before I turn the keyboard over to my husband, I just want to add a short preface.

We are a few hours behind schedule on this one, making it more like the Sunday Afternoon Quarterback…there was a lot of drinking and way too much food consumed yesterday that left us both feeling lethargic this morning.  Not to mention, the emotional aspect of yesterday…keep reading for details on that.  By the way, I am so proud of my husband for addressing the topics he did in this post today.  He is so much stronger than he ever gives himself credit for…my Sunday Morning Quarterback, my lobster, and my rock.

And here he is now, my husband, the Sunday Morning Quarterback, with the highlights from yesterday’s Penn State game against Michigan among other things.

The Great, the Good, the Bad, and the Sad

As of now I have only written about Penn State football recaps, but this edition of the Sunday Morning Quarterback is a little different, mainly because I didn’t get to watch a whole lot of the game yesterday and what I did see…well, it really wasn’t worth watching anyway.

Let me explain the reason I chose the title I did.

The Great

We’ll start with the Great. Two weeks ago, I decided to have an end of work season party at my house. The severe North Country winters at Fort Drum shut down the course where I currently work as an Army air assault instructor. So I figured I might as well have a party to celebrate our upcoming winter work vacation not to mention it would probably be the last time I get to use my smoker until the spring, due to the aforementioned winter weather in the Fort Drum area. Invitations to co-workers and friends were passed along, guests let me know what dishes they were bringing, and an impressive display of culinary skills was put to work. The gathering being scheduled on Saturday also meant that college football would be the only thing allowed on the television during the party.

The three main games on the roster for the day were Army versus Air Force, Penn State versus Michigan, and LSU versus Alabama. I am an avid Army football fan after 19 years of service in that branch of the military and this game would decide which academy would win the Commander in Chief’s trophy. In case you are unfamiliar with that, it is the trophy awarded annually to the service academy that sweeps the season series. Last year Army won the trophy for the first time since 1996. With Air Force already having defeated Navy this year, a win against Army would return the trophy to Colorado Springs. A win by Army would mean that they would retain the trophy and a win over Navy later this year would give us outright ownership for the next year.

Following the Army-Air Force game was the Penn State-Michigan game and I don’t believe this requires an explanation on why a win would be great. The last important game of the day would be LSU-Alabama. At this point in the college football season, everybody wants to see ‘Bama lose except their own fans and LSU was probably the last chance for that to happen prior to the College Football Playoffs.

The Good

So now that I’ve listed all the things I believe that were going to make yesterday great, we’ll move on to the Good. The day started with food prep, house prep, and everything else you can imagine was necessary for a party of approximately 25 guests. Since this party was my idea and my wife was working, I carried the sole responsibility for complete party preparation while making sure our boys were attended to as well. Now all of the pre-party prep went as well as could be expected with everything being finished prior to the noon kickoff for the Army-Air Force game.

As I watched the beginning of the game, I alternated between the television and checking the food on the smoker. Army started the game with a 13 minute drive and took a 7-0 lead. They would extend the lead to 14-0 at the half. So far so good. Guests started to arrive and being all soldiers we settled in to watch the second half. What we would witness was Air Force changing quarterbacks and starting to mount a comeback. A score by the Falcons would cut the lead to 14-6. Halfway through the fourth quarter, an Army field goal would extend the lead to 17-6. But just like an annoying little brother, Air Force just wouldn’t go away. Three minutes later, a Falcons’ score and two point conversation would trim the lead to 17-14. Air Force would get the ball back one more time with just over three minutes to go in the game. They would drive as far as the Black Knights 40 yard line and faced a 4th and 3 with 1:10 to play. West Point would stop them for no gain and run out the clock, winning 17-14. This is the first time since 1972, when the trophy began to be awarded, that West Point will have the trophy for back to back seasons. Although I doubt I’ll ever see Army win a national title, Coach Monken has worked wonders in bringing the West Point football program back to relevance. The Black Knights are currently chasing their third consecutive 10 win season along with a third straight bowl win.

The Bad

Now that we’ve covered the Great and the Good, we must now move onto the Bad. If you watched any football yesterday or saw any highlights, you probably have some idea of what happened based on the title of this post. Going into the Penn State-Michigan game, I maintained no delusions of what kind of game yesterday’s could have been and ended up being. Naturally, I wanted my Nittany Lions to go to the Big House and upset the Goliath of the Big Ten this year. But alas, that was not the case. As kickoff was nearing along with the scheduled serving time for food, the bulk of my guests arrived. While bringing in food from the smoker, socializing with my guests, and performing all of the other duties required of a good host, I only caught snippets of the game.

What I saw was a Nittany Lion team that look overmatched in every aspect of a football game and a Wolverines team that looked like they were running a clinic for beginners. Some of the plays I caught in the middle of my other obligations left me hanging my head in disappointment. Trace McSorley missed a wide open Deandre Thompkins pass that would have cut the score to 14-7 just before the half. A blocked field goal that Penn State returned for a touchdown was taken back because of a Nittany Lion penalty followed by a Penn State fumble on the next play that was recovered by Michigan. That would have tied the game at 7-7 early on. But instead, we entered the second half down 21-0 with Tommy Stevens under center. He would throw a pass directly into a Michigan defender’s hands which would be returned 62 yards for a pick six and a 28-0 Wolverine lead. It was at this point that I removed my Penn State jersey and changed the channel to the Texas game. I did this partially for my own sanity and for that of my guests’ so they could at least watch a competitive football game. Recording a loss of 42-7, the game was unpleasant to watch, to say the least. In the final game of the night, Alabama would shut out LSU 29-0 and punch their ticket to the SEC Championship game.

The Sad

Now onto the hardest part of this weeks edition: the Sad. Last weekend, my friend and co-worker could no longer escape his own demons and tragically took his own life one week ago today. I have been grief stricken since I heard the news Monday morning, but decided to have our party even in his absence (he was a confirmed guest for this event at my house). I figured it would be an opportunity for all of us to say our farewells to him, together under one roof, in close camaraderie. During the 14 months we had worked together, he and I had developed a great relationship. He was sarcastic and funny, had a self-depreciating sense of humor, and literally could not be offended. Perfect traits for working in the environment where we did. Had he been in attendance yesterday as planned, he would have assisted with the food on the smoker, enjoyed a few beers and a lot of laughs, and mercilessly ridiculed me over the result of the Penn State game although he wasn’t much of a college football fan. But that was just the kind of guy he was. He enjoyed his friendships and supporting the interests of those closest to him. As I prepare to escort his remains back home to his family tomorrow morning, all I can think is how much he will be loved and missed.

Until Valhalla, brother…

We Are…

Keeping it on the edge,

Jeff (and Shelbee)

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