He?s the guy who scored four touchdowns against an undefeated Bluejay team that November. He?s the guy who piled up 236 yards on 36 carries.
I?m not sure I?ll ever forget the sight of him impersonating Superman, jumping completely over a stacked-up line of scrimmage to score a touchdown from three yards out.
Saying that he was?and still is?an ?ber-talented football player is probably an understatement.
Anyway, I only mention him here because when N.Y. Giants running back Brandon Jacobs went down with a knee injury, my first thought was whether to pick Ward up for my fantasy team.
Never mind the fact that adding him to my fantasy team would be, for a Broncos fan-slash-Tabor alum, the rough equivalent of dropping Selvin Young for LaMont Jordan.
***
This seems like a good time to mention that I?m feeling good about myself for only checking the waiver wire once today. I think I might need serious help with this whole fantasy football thing. So if you happen to know a good psychiatrist or a reliable assistant G.M., send me an e-mail.
***
I?m crediting Brett Thiessen with an assist for helping me track down the information on Ward. I wandered the Web for the better part of an hour trying to find all of that, and Brett was able to point me to the place to look in the Free Press archive.
Of course, if I had just remembered that the entire archive is searchable through our own Web site, I could have saved myself 45 minutes of mumbling scurrilously in Yahoo?s general direction.
***
In case you?re wondering how my fantasy draft turned out (and I know of at least one other resident of Marion County who is), here?s this week?s starting lineup: Drew Brees (qb), Randy Moss (wr), Isaac Bruce (wr), Calvin Johnson (wr), Joseph Addai (rb), Laurence Maroney (rb), Todd Heap (te), Robbie Gould (k) and San Diego (defense/special teams).
Even if I pencil in a minimal number for Heap, who played after press time on Monday night, my fake team fake scored somewhere around 95 fake points.
Next column, I promise I will not mention fantasy football. Even if I can?t think of anything else to write about. I?ll write out my grocery list or something.
***
In the second half of the Tabor-Ottawa football game, it occurred to me that I might be one of the last Tabor grads that can remember watching the absolute drubbing Bethel handed us in 2000 from the student section. (By the way?it seems like I should mention this just in case there are Bethel fans reading?the score of that game was 54-7. I had to look it up, because that was quite a long time ago.)
I was also there, bundled up and soaking wet, who went to the field with little hope and no inkling that Bethany could be beaten, who cheered in a state of sheer amazement at what the Free Press later called the ?Miracle in the Mud? played out on a soggy Reimer Field right in front of my eyes.
