Jackie Wells-Fauth
I have to admit that I am not the best-informed sports fan you would ever encounter. What I know about most sports is that I don’t know much about them. But over the years as a teacher, I learned to pay attention because what’s important to the students is eventually going to be important to the teacher.
While I have watched most football games through my fingers, praying that the guy at the bottom of the pile stood up—usually because he was set to perform with my drama team, and wrestling always makes me twist my program, coat, gloves, whatever I have, into knots just trying to watch, I pride myself on having figured out high school volleyball and basketball—sort of.
The older I get, however, the harder it is to be comfortable sitting on those hard plastic bleachers and so I have worked to become more at ease with little creature comforts.
I learned how important it was to get there early, so you could get a seat at the top and lean against the wall. Those are the prized seats, so they are difficult to get and as the years have gone on, I find my knees don’t care for the climb to the top, anyway.
Then came the innovation of stadium seats. At first, they were simply a canvas bag with a seat and a back—that was helpful. However, I discovered that a quick shift to the side in response to the game would frequently find me upended on the outraged feet of the person behind me as my seat slid off the slippery plastic bleacher. Besides, a bit of canvas between me and the hard, plastic bench was not much of an improvement.
Now I have a fancy, padded seat so I have no contact with the plastic bench and it is pretty good at staying in place and holding up my back, so I don’t need to crawl to the top of the bleachers anymore. That was handy, since I always have to crawl back down for the bathroom and the concession stand.
Watching the games has been a path of discovery for me. The people sitting around me probably get sick of my company since every time a ref blows the whistle, I immediately begin parroting, “Why did they do that? What did they do? What’s going on?” I never could understand the niceties of the rules of the sports, and I have not developed a good relationship with the officials of the games because—well, they are obviously picking on my team!
And that brings me to the giant sewing bag I always carry with me. It has multiple purposes. First, I really like to sew plastic canvas. It’s relatively simple—so I can manage it, and it is just plain fun to do.
Second, because I like plastic canvas, I am frequently working on projects for my drama department as “mementos”. I can spend a lot of the time I am at a game working on those projects and thus, I am doing what the experts say is “multi-tasking.”
And now for the real reason I carry sewing with me to the games. In the past, athletes and students in the stands have politely intimated that I am a little…loud when I am watching the games and having the sewing in my hands tends to keep me calmer…and more polite.
I left the bag at home during a recent basketball contest and found myself making suggestions to the refs—at the top of my lungs. Just minor stuff, like, “Hey ref, are we watching the same game or did your new glasses prescription not get here yet?” Or, “Oh, are you SURE you want to call a foul on the other team? It’s the first time you’ve done it all night!”
So, the sewing is excellent for multiple reasons, but most importantly, it helps me to avoid getting a technical foul on the home team!
All of my teams have completed their seasons, and track is “fast” approaching, so I can probably retire the sewing bag and the stadium seat pretty soon. But it has been a wonderful season, and I would like to thank the athletes of Wolsey-Wessington and Miller for a fine and highly satisfying time—I will have my stadium seat and sewing bag stored and ready for next year!
dropsinthewell 