[Bob Proctor]

A few years ago I was crew chief for a Pop Warner conference title game. The gane was held on a field that had no lights and started at 7:00 pm. They had rented lights that were only about 10 feet tall. It was raining horses and the field looked like a movie set. From the opening kick off it was clear that one team was way more aggressive than the other, evidenced by an ejection for the white team 4 minutes into the contest for throwing and landing a punch (or several). As we wound through the game we had three more ejections for the same thing on white team players and none on the red team. I find out later that the Red coach had prepared his team for this aggressive conduct by training them all week to stand up with arms outstretched and let the aggressor hit him. It worked.

We were working in mud up over our ankles, wet, and cold ... thoroughly miserable! With 5:30 left in the contest my umpire calls holding down around the 5 yard line. I get the foul from her and turn to the press box for the preliminary signal. As I give the signal I sense something is not right. I turn around and spot my head linesman on the ground on top of a player with a policeman on top of them both. Sensing the impending doom which was about to decend upon us, I turn back towards the center of the field and spot both stands emptying onto the field and a riot ensues. About that time a Red player runs up to me and screams, "I'm gonna kick your f***ing A** and disappears due to a fine open field tackle by a father. Using our finely tuned football instincts, we decide that it's time to go. I get the crew together and we get a police escort from the field. As we approach the car I discover that my linesman is now missing. In a panic I look around for him and spot him running through the melee on the field to retrieve his buck-forty-nine clip. Without changing we jump into our cars and speed away (mud and all) to the nearest available de-briefing spot. After several de-briefing beverages I drive home. The next morning there is an additional riot at my house ... something about mud in my wife's car. Go figure.