Schadenfreude In Yesteryear

The German word in the title translates to taking pleasure from the misfortune of others.  At lunch with my life-long Oregon State Beaver friend, Dick Bayless, he recalled a poem I sent him many years ago that memorialized a basketball game his alma mater played that would, if won, lead to a shot at the national championship.  OSU's great Terry Heisman Baker played on that team.  The game was on a Friday night and I had the poem composed and mailed from Eugene to be on Dick's law office desk the following Monday morning.  It's too long to reproduce here but I've copied a few  verses to give you a flavor of my take on their game.  My schadenfreude.  So let's mosey down Memory Lane...

The Beaver fans were cheering when the Provo news came in,

The Benton County Bandits had come up with a win.

They grabbed a jet for Louisville, they knew they couldn't fail,

And joy flowed through that happy crew, from cockpit to the tail.

It's Friday night in Freedom Hall, the Beavers take the floor,

Then on comes Cincinnati and the crowd lets out a roar.

The ball goes up at center, the game is under way.

No Benton County Beaver will 'er forget this day.

Now Baker goes to fore-court, then watches in dismay,

As Cincinnati slickers deftly steal the ball away.

This scene will be repeated each time Terry starts to act,

It's as if the Heisman Trophy was strapped upon his back.

Mel Counts fouls out too early, while Pauley's hitting four,

Poor Terry's got a goose egg and Peter's little more.

Two Beaves are hitting only one, and two have hit but two,

With Jarvis scoring only five, what will those Beavers do?

Things are looking hopeless, the Beaver's plight is grim.

Continuing disasters, balls bouncing off the rim; 

Then inspiration hits the team, the scheme they choose is bold,

In Freedom Hall, before the world, the fabled Beavers fold.

Of all the great disasters, Pearl Harbor and the rest,

Columbus Day, the Alamo, Dunkirk's bloody test;

Of all these terrible set-backs, at one the memory sticks:

Cincinnati eighty, the Beavers...forty-six.

Did I send a copy to Terry Baker?  Do you think I'm nuts?