Fridays with Mac: Going Home

Maybe it’s just me and buddies in our mid-60’s to early 70’s. No longer spring chickens, certainly not physically. It seems all conversations begin with our health status. “How ya doing?” The maladies vary considerably: Cancer, Amyloidosis. Chemo. Dialysis. Transplants. Heart Disease and other lousy stuff. Our mortality front and center.

I think of friend and former CU football coach Bill McCartney. The Hall of Fame coach is fighting the good fight against Alzheimer’s. Billy Mac from Hackensack loves to bark, “Ain’t none of us getting out of here alive. One out of one die!” Amen brother.

How fast time goes. This is top of mind now in preparing to head back home to Raytown, Missouri for a reunion of one of the greatest teams your scribe has ever been around. Given my career as an athlete and then sports TV guy, I’ve been around some great teams through the years.

The 1989 Colorado Buffaloes certainly rank up there. Playing in honor of their fallen comrade, quarterback and team leader, Sal Aunese, this “One Heart Beat” squad won every regular season game before losing, in disappointing fashion, the national championship game to Notre Dame. On a warm Miami New Year’s Day evening, the Buffs squandered many opportunities to put the Fighting Irish away at the Orange Bowl.

Crushing defeat for a great team. The Buffs bounced back the next year and won the school’s only national title. That game still vivid in the memory of a dude known as the “Buff Guy” for CBS News Colorado , then “Home of the Buffs.” I was blessed to fly on the team plane, host the coach’s shows and develop life-long friendships with many players, coaches and administrators.

The 1989 team had great players and an even greater spirit. Which takes this Missourian back to going home to celebrate another outstanding team. Fall of 1974, I was a junior in high school and quarterback of the Raytown South Cardinals football team. We had an excellent season. Much like the 1989 CU Buffs the dudes from Ray-South ran the table in the regular season.

This team was led by an amazing group of seniors. It shocked the Missouri high school football world early in the season hammering traditional state power Jefferson City. It alerted the prep football world that the Cardinals had something going under first-year coach Bruce Johnson. A hard-nosed and caring man who had taken over for Vance Morris after “Oskie” left for a college job at Austin College in Sherman, Texas.

Morris handed the reigns of a team laden with talented seniors who were respected leaders. Many still dear friends. We’re coming together again to celebrate a special season that ended with a crushing defeat. Much like the 1989 Buffs.

We had another state power, Columbia Hickman on the ropes. The Kewpies’ team that year? Five guys on that roster ended up playing professional football. Hickman had talent. Ray-South had talent too. Most of us were not the biggest but almost all were pretty darn fast and/or strong.

The Cardinals blew a late third-quarter lead and Hickman rallied to prevail 20-9. Many members of the Cardinals recall moments in the locker room immediately following the disappointing outcome. There were a lot of tears.

Swear to God, while writing this? Getting misty-eyed. Some moments in time forever etched in our DNA. I can remember that disappointing moment like it was yesterday. There’s rarely a day when something from whatever McIntosh is up to DOES NOT trigger a memory. Especially when talking about the importance of moving beyond the pain of life and try to capture some purpose from the messy journey. The 1989 Buffs and the 1974 Ray-South Cardinals are kindred spirits. Perfect regular seasons but crushing losses meant falling short of desired goals.

The sting of the loss has evaporated over time. On the flip side? A bond was born that my mind, body and soul will forever cherish. Going home, as darling wife likes to joke, to “Live the glory days.” Guilty as charged.