Super Memories: XVIII

Super Bowl XVIII was played January 22, 1984 in Tampa. You'll recall from a previous post that I no longer had a strong allegiance for any particular NFL team, but sometime in the mid-80s, maybe even on January 22, 1984, I developed a liking for the Oakland Raiders. Though my Raider interest probably had little to do with football.

From grade 4 - grade 7, our house was about a 4-hour drive from school, so my brother and I were boarding students. Unlike a college dorm setting, our dorms were structured like a large family. Each dorm was run by a husband and wife, who often had their own children, and then there were 15-20 of us dorm-kids who were under the dormparent's authority. For reasons I no longer recall, I didn't have a favorable view of my dorm father, Mr. Pearson, during my grade 4-6 years. On thing I do remember, being from Virginia, he was a Redskins fan.

Keep in mind that few non-military personnel had access to the Armed Forces Network broadcasts in the 1980s, I'm not sure why since by the 1990s it was as if the Armed Forces Network was broadcasting to the whole nation. So in the 1980s, the Super Bowl was the only NFL game we'd see on TV. I had no idea what had transpired during the 1983 season, but when I heard that the Redskins were playing in Super Bowl XVIII, I knew I would be rooting for the opposition.

I distinctly remember awakening in the early hours of Monday, January 23 (being 13 hours ahead of Easter Standard Time) to watch the pre-game and the first quarter. There was a group of us, maybe 10 or 15 gathered around a small TV in the school gym. By the second quarter, school was in session, and when possible, I would detour to the gym to check the score while changing classes. Since big sporting events in the US usually occurred on Monday in the Philippines, the school rumor networks were always primed and ready to go. Throughout the day, tidbits of "the Dolphins were intercepted" or "the Raiders are leading by 7" or "so and so fouled out" would work their way around the school and keep us up on the game even though we weren't seeing it live. Even so, every opportunity to catch the game was seized. This whole experience, the early morning, the challenge to stay abreast of the competition, made being a sports fan that much more enjoyable.

As the Super Bowl unfolded and the Raiders obliterated the Redskins, the Oakland fan base increased by at least one. To see my dorm father's team take such a licking brought a big smile to my face and I relished every moment of dinner that evening. As was our daily custom, our entire dorm seated amongst several tables eating dinner together with many of us piecing together the highlights of the game from each others memories with Mr. Pearson enduring it all in quiet agony.

In the end, I came to respect Mr. Pearson for his tremendous knowledge of and ability to teach AP U.S. History and his consistent enforcement of our school's policies as Vice Principal. But his tenure as my dorm father turned me into a bandwagon Raider fan for a brief spell in the mid-1980s.