Part X : Plattsburgh Intramural Sports Said it All and Were Serious Business

To date, I am completely out of stories, and as for the validity of my previous tales, they are 100% accurate. I remember them, that’s the way they happened, and you don't need to know anything else. So now we are moving into the realm of second hand sources, and my first story cannot be confirmed for accuracy. In fact, this one is rather dubious, because Steve has no memory of the pertinent facts. I will press on the nonetheless, and make my justification afterwards.

The retelling began as me and Pete were discussing Steve's prowess. Even though, tall and skinny with not a lot of muscle, he never took crap from anyone, and if the occasion demanded, he’d put the offender down.

The following incident necessitated such action. The seventh floor team was involved in the most important aspect of Plattsburgh affairs - intramural sports. Flag football in this case, they were going up against the powerhouses on the ninth floor, and with the odd numbered floor rivalry upping the ante, this was as serious as it got in Plattsburgh.

A ringer also added to the drama. The ninth floor had a bouncer from the point, and he had more going for him than just being a great athlete. “I believed him to be toughest dude at Plattsburgh,” Pete remembered.

The trouncing the seventh floor took didn’t help matters either, and when the bouncer lost the seventh floor defense in coverage, the breakdown didn’t sit well with Steve. Worse yet, neither did the excessive celebration or the piling on of points by our rivals.

So back in the huddle Steve offered his remedy. “He's not doing that again,” the high strung sophomore assured, according to Pete.

Of course, Steve’s resolve and determination had not yet been firmly established, and the replies followed suit. "Yeah ok Steve - how you going to do that?”

Well, think of the 1990s Knicks and Anthony Mason making sure no one coming down the lane gets an easy layup. Thus, the change of possession came due, and with the pass over the middle, so did a resounding clothesline tackle. “I don't know if Steve deliberately tackled him or was just trying to adamantly break up the play.  Either way, it was way out of bounds for flag football. Hence, the bouncer went down hard, and was completely taken by surprise,” said Pete.

The big guy's reaction wasn’t, though, and he came up ready to start swinging. The size of the fight in the dog, Steve did not back down, but both teams intervened before any punches were landed.

Still, the sentiment that Steve laid out said it all for Pete. “I was in awe, jealous too, because even though I'd always wanted to do something like that to an arrogant bully, I never had the guts,” Pete gushed.

Of course, equal time demands Steve’s official position. “I have no recollection of doing that.  I do remember getting burned for a touchdown by someone who left me looking stupid,” goes Steve's testimony. 

Fortunately for Steve, we had a standard Plattsburgh operating procedure that dictated all behavioral discrepancies from the previous night (or century). And it went like this. “I don’t remember, therefore it did not happen.”

Interestingly, it was Steve who initially invoked the dictum. But I am sorry, an override is necessary in this case (or I won’t have a story).

Do the events recalled sound like something Steve would have done, and almost 40 years of experience does not require very much journalist introspection on my part.

Of course, it does and there you go, another memory can be officially designated as Plattsburgh lore…And at 100% accuracy.

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