Football is Just a Game
October 27, 2009 The home team won Saturday. It may have been a season-defining victory. It was a perfectly beautiful day for Deep South football.
That’s the good news.
But talking to some of my friends from the Delta Saturday – friends who would normally be picking cotton and cutting beans this time of year – made me realize yet again that football’s just a game.
It rained two-feet, give or take an inch or two, in the Mississippi Delta from the first of September to the middle of October. There’s a steady rain falling in Memphis today, and the radar shows a line of showers moving through the Delta with another line not far behind. There’s a 90% chance of rain Thursday and Friday. The weekend forecast calls for sunny skies.
One of my friends said this could be the worst harvest season in history. I don’t know if that’s completely accurate, but it certainly could be the worst for my generation.
What follows are paraphrased comments I heard Saturday:
• “I have 2,000 acres of cotton. We got off to a late start, but in August I had the best cotton crop I’ve ever had. I haven’t cranked up a picker yet.”
• “I was cutting 60-bushel (per acre) beans before it started raining. I may make 25 bushels now, but they’ll be so damaged the elevator is probably not going to take them.”
• “I picked two days before it started raining and it was running well over a 1,000 pounds (per acre). Some of it was going to go at least 1,200. If I get back in the field this week, I may pick 600.” (It appears that he won’t pick this week.)
• “I’m leaving $9 (per bushel) soybeans in the field.”
• “We’ve gone from a 2-1/2 bale crop to a 1-1/2 bale crop – if we get the cotton out.”
• “I have some beans with 70% damage. I was offered $4 (per bushel) for them. The elevator had two loads of beans Friday and turned one of them down because of damage.”
Finally one friend said, “Here’s the deal: We’re not going to talk about crops anymore. We’re not going to talk about paying back loans. We just won and we’re going to enjoy it for a while.”
And enjoy it I did. But today? Not so much.
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