Homecoming Game 2006

It was a chilly and rainy night but a brave few (very few) from the Class of 1986 did show up to check out the 2006 Lackey Chargers' football team and hang for at least a few minutes.

I got there at about 7:15 and found a parking space pretty close and made my way to the ticket kiosk. I purchased my ticket from Ms. Burney who was also there when I went to a Lackey home game some time last year. While getting my ticket, I bumped into former Lackey (and NFL) player, Rod Milstead. He's still a mountain of a man and looks fit enough to still be playing.
Trudging up the hill through the drizzle, Ms. Bannister was collecting the ticket stubs presumably so the discards wouldn't litter the bleachers.
Once inside I met up with Bill Deer, Tony Penny and Tim Champ. We stood around talking about the usual stuff: the rain, who else might show up, how bad the team might get beaten, etc. This time though we were engaged in extra heavy "people-watching," trying to discern all the faces for the familiar, if slightly aged. We saw a few teachers we knew and also spied with interest the young students, overheard their their new slang and phrases (though the content was generally the same) and observed how many of them postured to look "cool" without looking like trying to look "cool."
Later Ralph and Terry Stotler showed up and we all talked for a few minutes before the rain and the team's dismantling of Gwynn Park prompted me to call it an evening. I heard later that Lackey won 50 - 0. Very sweet indeed especially when the Great Mills High School quarterback Cody Kohn was heard to say that he likes to "Ruin their dance," in reference to his desire to beat Lackey in their own homecoming game. Tough luck, Cody.
I exited to my car reminiscing quietly and to myself about the old days and thinking that no, I don't want to go back to those times. Though it was great to see the old classmates, the present and future should always be preferred.