“I went to Springfield once. I never went again.”
Springfield, the “Cashew Chicken Capital of the world” or so they say. Also, the home of The Missouri St Bears who are fresh off a win at Marshall. This Saturday afternoon, the Mustangs of SMU are coming to town. First for a plate of gas station cashew chicken and then a football game. I imagine the town will be buzzing and the Cashew Chicken will be hot and fresh.
Plaster stadium in Springfield, Missouri which holds an estimated 17,500 people will be at capacity for this one.
This is a beyond difficult game to navigate for the Bears. As talented and hard-working as they certainly are the odds makers give them a less than 6% chance to win. Hey, crazier things have happened, and I’m certainly rooting for a tight game in the fourth quarter. A chance to see if either Kevin Jennings or Jacob Clark can win it for their team late. Both are capable.
It’ll be in the 90’s most likely by kickoff. A Steamy September day game in the Ozarks in the city dubbed, “the Queen City of the Ozarks.” Maybe this will slow down the pace of the game. SMU coming off a double overtime loss to Baylor and Missouri St coming off their emotional road win would perhaps prefer a slower pace. This could lead to something like 17-17 going into the fourth quarter and then, who knows? Could the home team pull the upset? My gut tells me that MO St does not have a chance, but I’m willing to be proven wrong. I’ll take SMU 31- MO St 17. Under 60.5
Anything can happen on any given Saturday.
Happy things like a local football team pulling an upset over a rival, or dark things like a Springfield mob of two thousand or so lynching three potentially innocent men. Springfield has a history of both. One Saturday back in April of 1906, one of these dark things took place. It’s important to remember the grisly, dark incidents from the past so to not repeat them. To learn from the mistakes. “Anger cast into the past, depletes our moral energy for the present.”- Howard Zinn. We don’t remember the dark things to fuel anger. Simply, to learn from other’s mistakes. I bring this incident to light in 2025 because the divide is widening between different types of people, and we cannot go back to letting mobs decide what is just and what is not.
Gratitude, love, and compassion must be our guides. Let the grisly deaths of Horace Duncan, Fred Coker, and Will Allen remind us to love our neighbors no matter if they look like you or not. Let this Saturday be one of the happy times in Springfield and may those dark days where sadistic, heartless thugs ruled this land remain in the past. Do not look for another to make the first move. The responsibility falls at every single person’s feet–To love one another.
I apologize for turning this a different direction, but it just came to me, and I let it out. I did not sit down to write this, but as I’ve said in the past, ‘the pen writes what it writes.’ I’m hopeful that the Missouri St Bears can compete with SMU, but I’m more hopeful that the dark happenings in our country’s relatively young history will never be repeated.
SMU @ Missouri St kicks off at 1:30 on CBSSN. The players, coaches, and fans in this game had nothing to do with anything that happened on a Saturday in 1906. Perhaps, they will be part of a brighter more inclusive future where darkness dies and love wins. I’ve been to Springfield once. I never went again.
This one didn’t leave much humor behind, but if there is any–
Find it and keep on movin’
“There is no one righteous. No, not even one.” Romans 3:10
Whit W.