OMED: Michael O'Brien's writing is as good as writing gets.  We usually use this space to kid him, but he is going in for a run of chemotherapy, which lacks the qualities required for humor.  We love the man's work, and consider him the literary equal of Paul Pintarich.  In a word, he is one of the finest writers Oregon has ever produced.  When he whips his current opponent, he will return to covering sports for the Tillamook Headlight Herald   Cynics and other big city sophisticates be warned. The following piece fairly reeks of parochial love.  It is what rural American areas are all about.  (Photo: Publicity shot of Mike O'Brien during his days in Hollywood.) 

The things we’ve seen in the past nine years. And will continue to see for the next nine.

Magnified to their proper significance because of our "village" mentality. Important because reveling in the success of our young ones tells us that: A) We are doing a good job appreciating their achievements and B) We share genuine geographic pride as a county here.

Watching the town of Tillamook turn Gill Coliseum in Corvallis into a sea of red, white and black at state playoff time, when as many as 15 other towns are represented, but far less significantly, at the 3-A basketball tournaments, well, it’s hard not to be affected emotionally. The 160-mile round trip for a Thursday morning game, bringing hundreds, as businesses are unopened back home.

Watching a trio of Neah-Kah-Nie cross country teams rule the state in successive years, built not only from the top, where gifted names like Welsh and Walczak destroyed the competition, but from the bottom, where coach Carlile prodded his four, five and six runners to shave minutes a season from their ungainly early efforts.

Remembering the best baseball game this reporter has seen to date, when Nestucca hosted  Portland Lutheran in a state playoff game in Cloverdale. Portland Lutheran sporting a 95-MPH pitcher, headed for USC, while Nestucca had the corner-painter Kenneth Blackburn throwing. Blackburn with 17 strikeouts and Jeff Yates coming to the plate in the sixth inning with a broken foot and knocking one to Pacific City to give the Bobcats the win. All evening the crowd getting bigger and bigger as work let out in South County. 

Blackburn coming out in the seventh, smiling at his dugout mates with every pitch, as they hung on the steel fence egging him on. Nine, maybe 10 pitches to record his final three strikeouts as the place erupted.

In 1977, Tillamook junior Megan Heckeroth, a product of a junior golf program in an area not rich with championship course, annihilating the field at the state tourney by eight shots over a two day stretch. Early on her way to the Futures and European touring cards she enjoys today.

Even some of the losses are somehow inspiring. Remember the Nestucca Bobcat basketball team who went to Concordia College to play an invincible group of Knappa Loggers, with Brian Jackson, the state’s all-time scoring leader and future Division One standout, as the Logger post. The Bobcats fighting back from a 17-point deficit, to draw within one point in the second half to give Knappa the only scare it had in two years atop the state polls and at the state championships.

Watching Matt Benjamin, playing with an unknown-to-anyone concussion, in the second half of a state football tournament game at PGE Park in Portland. Benjamin in on every tackle and rambling for yardage, and then, at game’s end, sitting on the bench wondering just where he was, remembering none of it. Fortunately he bounced right back to his jovial self in a day’s time.

Seeing the final moments of a young man’s wrestling career wind up in a riveting state championship match. Championships won at all three schools in the past nine years.

Watching young ladies dive into the stands for loose balls or slide face down into third base on a muddy field, realizing how far girl’s sports have come in a short time.

The fields where it all starts. Driving by seeing hundreds of little ones chewing on their mitts as T-ball games fill six locations on the junior high campus. Junior golf camp turning Bay Breeze into a trophy warehouse for little ones, as it culminates with the Kiwanis Tournament.

And, more than anything, seeing the gyms and playing fields fill with adults in each venue in the county, on any given night. Some still in their ties or farming overalls, all smiling and waving to one another and gathering on the floor or field after the game. The county’s finest and most avidly-attended social outings on a weekly basis. It makes us special. You can’t get close, through no fault of their own, in more metropolitan areas. 

And so it moves, season to season. Think about this fall. Tillamook bringing back solid portions of state football and volleyball playoff teams. Soccer as a sport for the first time, being given full program status, a step up from the club status it had in its initial season. Some real talent, and young as well, hitting the cross country trail for the Cheesemakers.

Nestucca and Neah-Kah-Nie entering new leagues with new opposition in each sport. After a decade or more of relationships with other schools. New opponents to start afresh with. 

The list goes on and on and the recollections can never be given a fair shake. There are so many young men and women, coaches building individual and team character and moms making bus lunches for the entire road team. Give me the time and I could go on and on. 

This observer has to take a leave of absence for hopefully a short period of time to wrestle some medical issues. A minimum of one to three months, hopefully the former. I’ll be ducking in and out as the process allows. It’s a great way to spend one’s time, seeing these things, and I can’t wait to get back. Don’t want to miss much. See ya’ soon.

© 2006 Michael O'Brien