It Was Only a Game

But I was expecting much more.

As we approached the ticket window, I could hear the band warming up, and the cheerleaders rehearsing a couple of “YEA HIGHLANDERS!” shouts. I plunked down the money for tickets for my son and his wife their two young sons and Linda and me.

The kid selling the tickets returned my money for two of them saying that “you and Grandma get in free.”

Never the one to miss an opportunity for a smart-alec remark, I commented that the reason for that is because “I'm so good looking, right?”


“No,” he said, “it's because you're so old.”

I went in anyway.

Frankly, I was all prepared to do more than just watch our local high school play football.

I was all primed to strap this old body into the magic time machine in my mind for a sweet journey.... back to some autumn Friday evening in.... 1953.

McLean High received the opening kickoff....and the game was underway. I was expecting to begin my personal blast off any moment. But, before I knew it, the first quarter had ended, and the cheerleaders outfits were still red and white.

I thought they should be Blue and White by now. Besides the team was already down by two touchdowns. It was obvious that Carson, Alton or Jack weren't in the lineup. But, just wait, I said to myself...until they finally get Don and Max in there to shore up their line and give the ball to Johnny or Bobby!

The cheerleaders were OK, but.....well, let's just say they weren't up to the Jackie, Sarah Lynn, Maxine, or Judy standard. And the guys couldn't match the enthusiasm of Linsy, Dickie, Derek or Ernest!
Looking around the stands I failed to spot any regulars like Shirlene, Sylvia, Ann, Mitzi, Ellouise, Jerry, Obie, Wilson, Pat......or Peggy, Betsy, Barbara, Linda, Mary Sue, Maxcyne.......hey, where is everybody?

Darn!  I was still in Virginia. I looked at my watch and saw that it was still 2011!

And that was as far as I went that night. My time machine's fuel tank was empty.

Football Field circa 1953

The machine operates on several different types of rocket fuel and for this particular trip the engine required a fill up of HIGH OCTANE BLUE.....which used to be found at every stadium in the country, but is now almost non-existent. That once ubiquitous blue mist-like haze can now be seen only in old sports photographs.

As you probably know, the sense of smell is the brain's instant re-play button. And without the aid of a good whiff of early 1950 Stadium BLUE my rocket ship to the past just sputtered and died on the launch pad.

Mclean also lost the game, but any night out with a couple of our grand kids is a good night!

Evening in Paris

Besides I'm already planning another trip. This time I'm bringing my own fuel. I discovered a company that re-manufactures products of the past which are not made or sold any more. The company is the Vermont Country Store and my bottle of Evening In Paris rocket fuel should arrive sometime next week.  -Lee

Actual X Ray Photograph of Lee's Brain

A smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people's moods and even affect their work performance. Because the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area so closely associated with memory and feeling it's sometimes called the "emotional brain," smell can call up memories and powerful responses almost instantaneously.
The olfactory bulb has intimate access to the amygdala, which processes emotion, and the hippocampus, which is responsible for associative learning. Despite the tight wiring, however, smells would not trigger memories if it weren't for conditioned responses.  -Wikipedia