What It Was, Was Football
It was back last October, I believe it was. We was a-goin t hold
a tent service in this college town.
And we got thar about dinnertime on Saturday And different ones
of us thought we ought to get us a mouthful to eat before
that we set up the tent.
And so, we got down off of the truck and followed this little bunch of
people through this small little bitty patch of woods.
And we come up on a big sign, says Get somethin to eat here!
And I went up and got me two hot dogs and a big Orange drink.
And before I could take ary mouthful of that food this whole raft of
people come up around me
and got me to where I couldnt eat nothin up like
and I dropped my big Orange drink. I did!
Well friends, they commenced to move and they wasnt so much
I could do except to move with em.
Well, we commenced to go through all kinds of doors and gates
and I dont know what all, and I looked up over one of em
and it says North Gate, and we kept on a-goin through there,
and pretty soon we come up on a young boy.
And he says Ticket, please And I says Friend, I dont have a ticket.
I dont even know where it is that Im a-goin. I did!
Well he says Come out as quick as you can.
And I says Ill do erIll turn around the first chance I get.
Well, we kept on a-movin through there and pretty soon everyone
got where it was that they was agoin because they parted
and I could see pretty good. I could!
And what I seen was this whole raft a people a-settin on these
two banks and a-lookin at one another acrosst this purty little
green cow pasture! Well, they was! And somebody had took
and drawed white lines all over it and drove posts in it and
I dont know what all! And I looked down there and I seen
five or six convicts a-runnin up and down and a-blowin whistles!
They was!
And then I looked down there and I seen these pretty girls
a-wearin these little bitty short dresses and a-dancin around,
an so I set down and thought Id see what it was that was
a-gonna happen. I did!
And about the time I got set down good, I looked down there
and I seen thirty or forty men come a-runnin out of one end
of a great big outhouse down there! They did!
An everybody where I was a-settin got up and hollered!
And about that time thirty or forty come a-runnin out of the
other end of that outhouse and the other bank full
THEY got up and hollered!
An I asked this feller that was a-settin beside me, I says
Friend, what is it that theyre a-hollerin for?
Well he whopped me on the back and he says
Buddy, have a drink!
Well, I says I believe I will have another big Orange.
An I got it and set back down.
An when I got back down there again, I seen that them men
had got in two little bitty bunches down there.
They hadreal close together--and they voted! They did!
They voted and elected one man apiece.
And them two men come out in the middle of that cow pasture
and shook hands like they hadnt seen one another in a long time.
And then a convict come over to where they was a-standin an he
took out a quarter and they commenced to odd-man right there!
They did!
Well, after a while I seen what it was that they was a-odd-mannin for.
It was that both bunches-full of them men wanted this funny-lookin
little punkin to play with! They did, and I know friends that they
couldnt-a eat it cause they kicked it the whole evenin
and it never busted!
But anyhow what I was a-tellin was that both bunches-full wanted
that thang and one bunch got it an it made the other bunch
just as mad as they could be and friends I seen that evenin
the awfullest fight that Id ever seen in my life!
I did! They would run at one another and kick one another
and throw one another down and stomp on one another
and grind their feet in one another and I dont know what all!
And just as fast as one would get hurt theyd tote him off
and run anothern on!
Well, they done that as long as I set there but pretty soon
this boy that had said Ticket please he come up to me and
he says Friend, youre gonna have to leave because it is that
you dont have a ticket. And I says Well, alright an I got up
an left. An I dont know, friends, until this day what it was that they
was a-doin down there, but I have studied about it, and I think its
some kindly of a contest where they see which bunch-full of them
men can take that punkin an run from one end of that cow pasture
to the othern without either gettin knocked down
er steppin in somethin ! memory byskyelk fast forward to today. It makes me think of polotics, difference being it's verbal not phisical. all the punchin and kickin trying to tear each other limb to… See all