THIS IS HOW I WANT TO GO OUT
The thought of dying too early is not a
stranger to Mike Pope. More than perhaps most
of us, the old football coach has lived with that
possibility so that he finds it easy now to talk
about his dying time.
“I don’t know when it will happen,” he
said as he adjusted the easy chair that is adapted
so that for much of five years now it has boosted
the former 290-pound offensive lineman to a
standing position.
“All I know for sure is how I want it to
happen.”
He paused to look briefly in the direction
of his wife, Ginger, who had heard all this before, and who believes it. He grinned, though only slyly.
“He wants it to happen at a football game,” Ginger said quickly, and in doing so gave her approval for yet
another telling of something she has heard many times.
“Not at just any game,” said Mike now that he at least to some extent had his wife’s approval. “The last
game of the season and we’re playing for the state championship. I’m on the sidelines and my team is losing by
four points. Our ball. Fourth-and-goal inside the five. Less than 10 seconds left on the clock, just long enough for
one final play.
“You know, not just any play. The play that will make all the difference. One chance, no more. Do it right
and you win and celebrate and you‘ve got a memory to last a lifetime; do it wrong, you lose and wonder what
you’ll do with the rest of your life.
“In that sliver of time before the quarterback gets the ball, it’s like time itself is suspended. Nobody takes
a breath for what seems like an eternity. The dim lights of the night seem to glisten off the helmets of 22 players
like dozens of fireflies.
“Then it happens. The very moment we all live for.
“The ball is snapped. From the sidelines, I can see it happening. Every man in my line makes his block.
Absolutely no one misses a blocking assignment. It’s exactly they way we drew it up. And one of the backs breaks
through a huge hole the guys up front have opened. Nobody touches him. TOUCHDOWN!!!
“The crowd goes wild. We’re going to win the state championship!
“There’s no more time in the game, and there’s no more time for me. And that’s OK.
“I turn around, look into the stands, wave one time to Ginger and the three girls, and drop dead.”
Mike paused for effect. For a moment, he didn’t smile. Then, there it was once again, that grin, playing
across his expressive face.
“I hope my next question would be: ‘Do they play football in Heaven?’ “
Mike Pope is a football coach, from the top of his head right down to the soles of his plastic and steel
prosthetic feet
THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK THEY WROTE ABOUT ME ENTITLED "DO THEY PLAY FOOTBALL IN HEAVEN" YOU CAN GO TO
www.hawgtuff.net TO ORDER THE BOOK. IT IS A GREAT READ..
