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Who Will Bring the Hammer?

September 28, 2014
Terry Vaughan

The oft' told axiom goes something like this:

A fellow was strolling down the street when he was drawn to the blood curdling shrieks of a man in obvious distress. His search took him to the  source of the commosion, where he discoved a  bloke who had his hand placed on top of an anvil. Every few seconds, the poor guy would draw back a large hammer and strike his thumb with blunt force, followed by screams of anquish. 

"Why in the world are you hitting your thumb with that hammer?" inquired the concerned gentleman.

His reply? "Because I know it is gonna' feel so good when I finally stop!"

Following a lopsided setback at Palatka Friday night, the Bradford High Tornadoes find themselves at 0-5 and seemingly on the business end of a hammer that continues to smash away in the midst of a trying season. Losing is both cruel and unusual for this proud program and no one is content with having their fingers crushed by a difficult schedule and youthful mistakes. All involved- Coaches,  fans- even the  ball boys -can get a bit ill tempered and chafed at the persistent pounding.

Meanwhile it is Homecoming Week at Bradford, and the Interlachen Rams are coming to town Friday night. Yes, those Rams. The ones who are also 0-5 and have a longstanding tradition of enduring excruciating football.

Unlike Bradford, Interlachen is quite accustomed to having their hand smashed. Without a frame of reference, the Rams probably have no concept of  how good it would feel if the hammer stopped swinging.

Bradford is young and they must not become comfortable with the pain that accompanies each loss. Hopefully this Friday night will mark the time when they gain control of the hammer that's been slamming their thumbs and start dishing out some punishment to the team wearing another color.  

If the Tornadoes plan to be the ones bringing the hammer, it will start with an upbeat approach in practice this week and a sincere desire to reduce self-inflicting damage. If they can pull it off, at about 9:30 pm Friday night  it's gonna feel so good.