TribTown

One of the beauties of attending a small school is that everyone has a chance to play sports.

One of the casualties is that often, there are not enough students left to create a spirit squad.

After years without cheerleaders or a spirit squad, Glenrock moms have now recruited and coached a squad of 10 who make their debut tonight at home against Wright at 7 p.m.

Squad members are Bre-Anna Raines, Sandy Hiser, Debriele Laird, Kylee Hall , Brooklynn Mulanax, Robin Ochoa, Andy Bowdish, Bre St. Gelais, Jessica Ochoa, and Sharlie Nissen.

The squad is coached and sponsored by Chastidy Raines, Denni Laird and Jessie Wagner.

Now that's Herder spirit!

This year's Women's Expo was alot of fun. Organizers won my cooperation by scheduling on a weekend with no home Pokes game, and my participation by scheduling on a weekend with a night game.

So there I was, hawking "Eatin' with Sal," and wandering through the aisles, seeing new small businesses, most of them done at home.

Time and again, I asked myself, "Why didn't I think of this?" These girls must be making a fortune.

Among the businesses I sampled were the wildly popular Cupcakes a-Go-Go and All Through the House, the Shoshoni fudge makers who are in the process of relocating to Casper (yay!)

And I read the inaugural issue of Wyoming Woman Magazine and like it very much. Again -- why in the heck didn't I think of that?

The Farmer's Market addition on Saturday was a great one for the Expo to make. Shoppers could buy anything from fresh-baked bread and pecan rolls to peaches and tomatoes, cabbage and cucumbers -- and grass-fed beef from Glenrock.

Truly, a very cool experience. Hopefully, next year's schedule will be as football-friendly.

After our marathon football-watching weekend, I barely had enough brain cells left to read a bit before bed.

That's really the only time I ever read for enjoyment because I can't concentrate when I'm also watching television.

So in one of the monthly magazines to which I subscribe, there was a powerful short story by a woman who was unknown to me.

The characters were particularly easy to like, and while it was fiction, there was a poignant lesson included -- everything you say is important, because there is no way to know how it might affect those who hear it.

I thought about that as I was thinking particularly negative things about a situation over which I apparently have no control. It seems my two choices are deal with it or don't participate.

So it's an important lesson.

The subject of the short story recalls aloud something she and her husband began saying years earlier -- "You never know what you'll get to be grateful for."

Amen.

Cowboys beat writer Eric Schmoldt is doing an awesome job.

And he'll continue to do that today and in the days ahead, covering every angle of the sorrow that has washed over the program, the community -- and yes, the whole state -- as abundantly as the Wyoming sunshine.

Every time I hear of a tragedy in Laramie, it takes me back 40 years this month to a time when Schmoldt was not born.

It was the Saturday before the season began, and Fritz the Dad and other assistants were scouting Air Force at the academy, ahead of our opener in Laramie the following week.

Our wonderful quarterback, Eddie Synakowski from Whiteboro, N.Y., took advantage of the perfect day to go fishing on Lake Hattie.

The phone rang at 916 Curtis Street and Peggy Jane the Mom answered.

Life in Pokeville would never be the same.

A sudden blustery storm had come up, swamped Eddie's small fishing boat, and he drowned.

Eddie was a great human and a good quarterback. He was a son, a brother, a husband -- and a teammate. A human hole was created that could not be filled.

Peggy Jane the Mom immediately called the press box at the Air Force Academy, told the Fritz the Dad and they left for Laramie that instant.

She then left the house and went to married student housing to be with Eddie's young wife. Hours later, she brought her back to our house.

Later that evening, Fritz the Dad got home and Eddie's parents arrived from New York in the middle of the night. They, too, stayed at our home.

At the Rosary in the funeral home on Ivinson, the team arrived together, wearing matching blazers, shirts and ties. No earrings, no jewelry, no i-Pod chords hanging out of their ears. That is a scene that I will never forget.

At the Air Force game on Saturday, the Falcons honored Eddie -- and us -- with a flyover in the missing man formation. Typing those words brings tears to my eyes and goosebumps to my flesh.

I think of that whenever there is a UW tragedy. I thought of those images nine years ago next week when the eight cross country runners died.

I thought of that when Ruben Narcisse lost his life on that same damned road Monday morning.

I didn't know Ruben Narcisse, but there is a human hole that will not be filled.

Again, all of Poke Nation mourns.

What are your favorite tailgate foods? Beer doesn't count .... well, it counts, but not as far as this question goes?

Do you go simple -- or big?

Let me know (and share a recipe) as I prepare the annual Enjoy! tailgating section for September 15.