FUBALL, sports and the Swing

I liked this picture. It is from the victory of my alma mater against the Bridgewater Eagles. I used to refer to them as the 'Beagles'. We would eat the beagles every year. I am glad that the universe has been restored and we are now beating Bridgewater like we used to. When I played, we had never lost to the Eagles. I even scored against Bridgewater in my senior season (a safety, where I tackled the punter in the end zone).

Bridgewater was where I first saw the bizarre spectacle of women playing field hockey. How odd. I wish I had a picture of that. It reminded me more of the croquet match in Alice in Wonderland, where the chess pieces play croquet with live flamingos. The last time I saw something resembling that was when I watched a lacrosse match at UGA. Those bulldogs had no idea how to play lacrosse. Wacking at each other and at the ball with their lacrosse sticks, trying futilly to pick up the ball from the ground and carry it goalward.

It was good to consider something athletically that I was certain my college would defeat one of the big state universities if they were to play each other. Back then, we consistently beat UVA and UNC and Duke and came close to beating Maryland in the rain at Scott Stadium in College Park(who ended up Number #1 that year)in my Freshman year. We had a great time sitting in the stadium at UVA watching the blue and white take apart the damn wahoos that year. I'm still not sure how we secreted that cooler full of beer into the stands without anyone stopping us. I do know that Pearl Light is a sad choice when picking a beer for an athletic event. I spent more than half the game in, or going to or coming back from the men's room.

Truthfully, I loved to sit in the Spring sunshine, looking out over the Blue Ridge, with a cup of coke topped with a little Kentucky sour mash, watching the boys whoop up on UVA and UNC and Duke in lacrosse. There was a real sense of accomplishment there. Particularly when we got to beat one of those schools which turned me down for admission. During my years there we consistently did that. W&L is still tough in lacrosse, even though they don't play the big boys anymore. We do regularly whip the VMI's every year in the Lee-Jackson game.

I also enjoyed driving my convertible up to the baseball field across from the Liberty Hall ruins, with a twelve pack of beer to watch an afternoon baseball game. Top down, fleecy clouds, sunshine. We might even watch the game played. If the team wasn't playing well, we could walk down to Wilson field to watch the lacrosse game. I really think that the short Spring semester was critical to making us forget the cold, dreary Winters in Lexington and the ideas that came to us from time to time of transferring to warmer climes, like Miami or UGA.

And we are pretty hot in wrestling, swimming, golf and tennis and all of the women's sports (oddly, since it wasn't that long ago when we were all male).

Anyway, "cheer, cheer for Washington and Lee. We're going to win another victory." The W&L Swing. Far and away, the best fight song of all time. Particularly as played by a Dixieland Jazz Band. Listen to Pete Fountain handle it back in the 60's. Pretty hot. That fight song was made for a hot Dixieland Jazz Band.