Baylor Gets Bowled Over, and Mickey Writes His Toast on a Napkin
Cleveland State59
Baylor24
- Game
- 2027 Week 5
- Date
- 2027-10-03
- Site
- Home
- Result
- Win
- Record
- 5-0
Vikings 59, Baylor 24, at home. Five and oh, folks. Thirty-five points of daylight against a Big 12 team, and the offense has now scored forty-five, thirty-five, twenty-four, sixty-three and fifty-nine. I’m not good at math, but I’m good at feelings, and my feelings say that’s a lot.
Next week’s the bye, and the bye week this year is the most important weekend of my life: my Kate marries Sam next Saturday at the church where Donna and I were married thirty-four years ago, in the same parish where I learned to serve Mass and sometimes fell asleep during it.
I wrote my toast at Big Stan’s this week on a napkin. Stan read it over my shoulder and said, “Mick, you mention Hocker twice.” I crossed one out. He said, “And the Liberty Bowl.” I crossed that out. He said, “And there’s a whole paragraph about a sandwich.” That one stays. A man has to have one paragraph.
Kenny’s coming to the wedding. He RSVP’d “plus one.” Donna screamed. Then she called Bridget. Then Bridget called Kate. By dinnertime the whole family knew. It took less time than a Hocker touchdown drive.
Four pierogi, and a toast on a napkin.
The Vikings beat Baylor by thirty-five. They are five and oh. They are the highest-scoring team I’ve ever covered, and the defense is still giving up points like it’s handing out samples at the West Side Market. Twenty-four this week, the best showing since Tempe.
Since Mickey has informed the entire Ledger readership of my RSVP, I’ll confirm it: I’m bringing Teresa to Kate’s wedding. We’ve been seeing each other since September. She’s met Mickey once, at a stoplight on Lorain, where he leaned out of his car and yelled, “YOU MUST BE TERESA,” which she says was “a lot, but sweet.” That’s an accurate summary of Mickey.
My father asked on the phone Sunday if I was “seeing anyone.” He asks every few months; he doesn’t always remember asking. This time I said yes. He was quiet for a while, and then he said, “Does she like the Vikings?” I said, “She doesn’t care about football at all.” He laughed and said, “Good. Somebody in the family should be normal.”
The Doom Model has asked for a plus one. I declined.
Back and forth
A plus one, Kenny!
It’s a wedding. You’re supposed to bring someone. It’s etiquette.
Your dad’s happy!
He said somebody should be normal. He’s not wrong. He never is about the big stuff.
Five and oh, a toast that’s mostly about sandwiches, and one doubter whose father finally approves of something without needing to see the scoreboard.
Split Decision is fiction. Mickey Bridges, Ken Hogmanes and The Lakefront Ledger are invented; the games and scores are not.