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You could feel in your body a glorious Fall New England vibe at 8 am this morning in Hartford, Connecticut. A tailgate scene stocked with bagels, brownies, and ribs. And like the rest of America, UConn/Wake Forest football tailgates run on Dunkin’ coffee that warms our tummies.
Family, friends, good cheer, fresh air, nothing more than a sweat shirt needed and not even that really. Fall foliage surrounding us in all directions. America as it is idealized, almost like you’re living in a painting of what this country is about when at its best.
Out there in the pasture four hours before kickoff, I marinated on thoughts of the beauty life offers, soaking in the sun and sumptuous fellowship and frivolity, the sacredness of Saturday mornings before 12 pm kickoffs in big and raucous stadiums.
Tossed the football around. Seemed fitting. Plus why not? Saw corn hole games cranking up here and there. Tunes reverberated on high-end sound systems: The Clash, Doobie Brothers, everything you can imagine that sounds good.
A morning like no other, like one they draw up in Chamber of Commerce board meetings and make marketing tourist brochures from. Tailgate tents installed all over the parking lot/open field, many blue and white for UConn, some black and gold for Wake Forest. Colors of all kinds including a baby blue sky.
Coolers loaded with iced-down beverages, some ping pong drinking game going on.
Before 11 am, an early start.
Getting lubricated.
Then a bouncy stride to the stadium financed by this town’s economic engine: Pratt & Whitney, the aircraft engine maker. Who knew? I had no idea. Learning something new is always enriching.
Down on the field the Deacs, there they are, in their away white pants and jerseys with black helmets in a stadium that kind of looked like a motor speedway in shape and overall cultural feel.
Something about Wake football in all white on the road feels like a good omen and I think it’s because they sported those when they put 70 on Army at West Point a few years ago and – most crucially – won the game.
Never seen anything like that game, 70-58, and never will again, a line drive away from the famous Hudson River.
Today I felt I was on the same out-of-town business trip as the Wake players who had traveled north. I was reconvening in the endzone rafters with a battalion of Wake friends I’ve known since the early 1980s.
Snake, Silly, Ponch, Gruder, Arn, Rip, Pistol, Hogge, Synder, Marlan, DMac. Also Kunk, who I hadn’t seen since 1986. Wish I had. Love Kunk.
Wives, girlfriends, sons, daughters, talk of grandchildren on the way. Many in today’s posse were at the West Point indelible memory.
We’re stout and hearty.
We’re Wake Forest football fans.
I sat next to by guy Silly. Known him since 1981 when I saw him the Oak Cooler Bar near Wake’s campus and knew immediately he’s be one of my guys and I have never been more right about anything in my life.
Silly makes me laugh. Because he’s silly. Loves Wake football as much as me maybe more though that would be monumental and really hard to actually be.
This year’s team is so much younger than us yet somehow connected with this older cohort spiritually, the Wake Forest spirit we all understand so well even if we can’t capture it in words but it has a lot to do with the Quad and Wait Chapel I think.
This I love: There was a kinship vibe for the hundred or more Wake fans and players and after the game the players ran over to the Wake fans who had made the trip to celebrate and thank them for the support. It’s as if they were glad to see some familiar faces in a distant land.
Like family members. Not like any family members. Actual family members. Wake Forest family members.
It’s noteworthy and sensuous the masterminds in Las Vegas picked UConn to win. Usually they’re right and the reason is simple: they get paid shiny coin to be right and are experts at figuring out which team will win and by how much.
But not today.
A victory when expected always tastes sweeter.
Wake made plenty of solid offensive and defensive plays and some not so hot like giving up another touchdown on a third and long situation when all you should be focused on was not getting beat deep then getting beat deep.
What stood out for me was the toughness of Buck Hankmeyer who, like he did in the seminal play against NC State, stood there in the pocket in the fourth quarter knowing a rusher was going to pulverize and ravage his sternum yet hung tough and delivered a pass completion in the clutch.
Don’t overlook this: that’s twice this Fall this California Kid has taken a crushing blow for his team to help them pull out the win. Teammates notice this from their QB who no one can touch in practice because he’s so important to the team’s success; he’s about winning and not above being the target of a huge hit. Diva Buckmeyer is not; Buck be a baller.
The Kid is likeable, throws a nice pass most of the time, and takes off and runs at opportune times to get key yardage. He’s a leader and unafraid of the big moments.
Like life itself, this team keeps coming at us, and deeper into our hearts, and at opponents, and against adversities, and it’s impressive to see. They could have flown up here and gone through this game without much vigor and felt sorry for themselves for a 2 and 4 record flapping around in their disappointments.
But they didn’t succumb to human nature which is to just get by. No, they were much better than that throwing down a full-on competitive performance across offense, defense, and special teams.
They weren’t great today. But they were good. Taylor Morin, who let’s not forget graduated from Wake with a 3.9 grade point average which is so impressive I can’t even do it justice nor comprehend that level of intellectual talent, continues to catch pass after pass after pass no matter how many defenders are going to pop him soon after he hauls the ball in.
Throw it to Taylor. He’ll catch it. Rising up the ranks among all-time catches among Wake Forest receivers who have ever played.
On punt returns he was effective, picking up solid yards, more than usual. He seems to be gaining confidence in his ability to break another big one sooner or later and I hope that happens against Duke. Defeat Duke. We must dominate Duke after gifting them a victory last year.
Demond Claiborne ran for a touchdown and fought for extra yards as did his running back mate, Tate Carney. Both are tenacious and rambling backs who don’t allow themselves to be yanked down with one or no yards often.
Usually they wrestle for three or four or more and this is exactly what a good back is supposed to do, keeping our offense from second and third and long predicaments.
Defensively, for the most part Wake tackled well and didn’t give up many big plays, not the killer wide open bombs they’re sometimes susceptible to. Not a great defensive game but solid.
I can imagine when they got on the team bus and left the stadium they thought about how much more fulfilling it is to win a football game than falling short especially heading into a long trip back home.
That’s the thing about football. Losing feels awful while winning is blissful and it’s not about one or two guys celebrating the win or lamenting the loss. In football the entire team feels they played a part in the win because they did; they were all involved in preparation.
Together they rejoice.
One jubilant unit. A party all deserve to be at.
Today Wake Forest showed – and this can’t be overappreciated — this program continues to be feisty with all kinds of headwinds gusting hellbent on knocking them over and out of contention and into oblivion.
By headwinds I mean the battle to pay the better players against other universities doing the same thing but with more bank. By headwinds I mean downer losses to Louisiana and UVA that could have easily been wins. By headwinds I mean getting totally outclassed by Ole Miss and Clemson, messages engraved that there are some teams just too talented for them to be serious about beating right now.
It’s all happening to this team this Fall, a lifetime of experiences packed into seven weeks. Life 101. Every week feels like its own emotional journey that tests their will to continue striving to be better and we ride the horse no matter how wildly it behaves.
Most uplifting is they’re hanging tough. Had they pouted and felt disrespected for being an underdog to UConn they would have probably lost and feel right now so much worse than they do now having won.
This evening I suspect they felt as if they were floating in the cirrus clouds back down the East Coast on the plane to sleep soundly in their Wake Forest beds after a long and emotional trek far away from home, a foreign territory, not even close to anything they would consider home compared with Winston-Salem.
This was New England clam chowder turf they conquered, now back to Carolina home cookin’, barbecue and deliciously extra sweet iced tea at Bojangles and other joints.
Keep it going, fellas. You’re inspiring us all. Grit is attractive; you look good in grit.
You may not understand or believe this, but you make us fans feel we can accomplish our dreams by pursuing yours, by not giving up, by preparing and playing hard on Saturdays like you did today.
You persisted. All we ask.
Everything we love.
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