"All I wanted," John Glenn said, "was to be one of the gang. To have some fun. Shucks, all I wanted was a little ... company.
But the two executioners, Mr. Gladwin and Mr. Standish-Sterling, laughed and pulled the trigger, walking away from a bleeding John Glenn, of Bay City.
John Glenn promised hope and growth for the North East Michigan Conference, and received a shallow, "Thanks, but no thanks," instead.
Not everyone in the NEMC felt this way. Ogemaw Heights was all in favor of bringing in some fresh blood, even if it meant the Falcons would no longer be the biggest kid on the block.
OHHS Athletic Director Jamie Richards pointed out to the West Branch-Rose City Board of Education the many benefits adding the Bay City school would offer.
Options such as better scheduling, additional financial backing for the league and the "Bay City media connection" would prove beneficial to the league.
Ogemaw was not alone in looking at John Glenn favorably. Tawas, Oscoda and Pinconning also voted to bring Glenn in to the league.
But in this ballroom, it takes five to tango. And neither Gladwin nor Standish-Dterling were willing to become a dance partner.
Gladwin made its stance known immediately: We don't play John Glenn now, and we aren't about to, either.
But while Gladwin's response was predictable - the G's have never been a big fan of facing off against the Bobcats - Standish-Sterling's was quite the reverse.
The NENC's lone "hyphenated" school used poor logic in explaining how Glenn's admission would bring the league to its knees.
According to Standish-Sterling's athletic director, the school's coaches are afraid of playing the larger John Glenn because their sports programs would suffer.
Uh-huh. This from a school which traveled downstate to take on the defending Class B football champions, Farmington Hills Harrison, last year - a move based in the theory that you improve by taking on bigger, new challenges.
One might also assume this quest for improvement would be a daily ritual, that Standish-Sterling didn't get thrashed by Harrison and say, "Well, that's the best we can do, time to pack up the bags and head to Bermuda for a while."
One game does not continual improvement make.
And, gee, don't the Panthers already play Glenn in a couple of sports? Yes.
Now, if you already face the Bobcats,how can you justify that putting them in your league would make things worse? Does playing a team twice in a season instead of once a season shoot down your entire program? Methinks not.
But even these excuses, as wishy-washy and pathetic as they are, do not compare to the King Solomon decision rendered by the school. And this is what's really got my stomach turning.
There's a line Danny Glover's character had in Lethal Weapon which applies here: "If she's gonna die, she'll die my way - not your."
At least Gladwin's decision, though officially stated by the Board of Education, came from the athletic department's head honcho. As did the four "yes" votes. The athletic directors at these schools had the chutzpah, whether right or wrong, to make what could have been a difficult decision.
But Standish-Sterling played by a different set of rules.
The Panthers' athletic director, Jim Markle, wanted his school to accept Glenn. But the coaches, looking at the Bobcats as a threat to their very being, wanted no part of it.
So what does Markle do? Does he side with the coaches? Or does he make a stand and say, "Bigger competition makes us a better school, and the NEMC a better league."?
He does neither. Instead, he forms a three-membert panel to weigh the options and make its recommendation to the board.
Now, committees have their time and place, And, on occasion, they even live up to their promise.
This was not one of those times.
So the NEMC remains a six-team league, while those around it are merging and growing.
John Glenn was executed. But it is the NEMC that will suffer for it.
This article originally appeared in the Ogemaw County Herald.
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