Wow, that’s a weird way to start a post in March, huh? Here we are in the middle of Chalk Madness…I mean, March Madness…and I start off with “Touchdown?” Seems like Johnny’s got his sports a little mixed up! Oh by the way, you’ll have to excuse me if I sound a little disjointed and off. I’m currently writing from my 2019 Hyundai Elantra instead of my home, because there’s a raving lunatic tearing up my house right now. But I’ll just leave that alone for the time being! 😠😠
But enough of that. So last week I was out of town at my Uncle Jeff’s funeral. That’s right…funeral. So you know this ain’t gonna be no happy/fun post. But then again, these ain’t no happy/fun times, are they? And I didn’t actually get to say anything at my uncle’s funeral, which is why blogs were invented.
So anyway, the date was January 10, 1982 and the event was the N.F.C. Championship game between the Dallas Cowboys (My ‘Boys, if you don’t already know) and our hated rivals, the San Francisco 49ers (Even though they weren’t our rivals yet. Getting to that in a minute.) Now, for whatever reason, some of my greatest moments as a sports fan were at my Aunt Essie and Uncle Jeff’s house in Baltimore: Game 7 of the 1988 NBA Finals, Game 5 of the 1985 NBA Finals, and the 1980 N.F.C. Wild Card Game between the Cowboys and the Rams.
So there I was on January 10, watching Tony Dorsett and Danny White try to do what they had not been able to do the previous several seasons, which was lead the ‘Boys to the Super Bowl. And my Uncle Jeff was sitting right there beside me, hanging on every play because he was a 49ers fan👎👎👎! Now, some of you sports fans might actually remember the game of which I speak. But for those who don’t, us Cowboy Faithful simply know that game as…THE CATCH! And what exactly was The Catch? It was a 3rd & 10 pass from Joe Montana to Dwight Clark in the back of the endzone for the deciding score that would send the 49ers to the Super Bowl and the Cowboys home empty-handed…again!
To this day, many in the sports world consider that one of the greatest plays in modern-day NFL history. But to Jefferson Herring, that play was simply known as…TOUCHDOWN! And just like that, one middle-aged man celebrated like it was Miller Time, and his 10-year-old nephew ran upstairs to the bathroom to fight off the tears in the mirror! 💯💯
Now as I said, I didn’t get to say any of this at his funeral because the ‘fam decided to keep everything succinct. And even though the trip was a massive gut-punch to my finances, it was great seeing everybody. And Uncle Jeff, if you’re up there listening, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for so many fine memories and I can’t wait to watch another game with you!
Love,
Malcolm
