Chicken Shed

Growing up on a farm for all my younger years was not such a bad thing. Even if 'They' were 'City' and 'We' were 'Country'. The rivalry between town and country residents was fierce and often intense. We often took the rivalry to the football field.

Our football team was really pretty good. The county we hailed from was Chickasaw County Iowa. So the plague of a team moniker was bridled to our county namesake. We were the Chickasaw Chicks. "We had to play harder!"

Our stadium was honestly dubbed the 'Chicken Shed". In reality it was Peavy Stadium but Ralph Peavy was sent to prison for embezzlement and no one stepped up to sponsor the field. I can not make this up. As much as an awful name like the 'Chicks' was we were still a team. I played guard. We did not have fancy position titles. I was just a guard and was told in the huddle to 'get that guy'.

The "Chicken Shed" had the best concessions in the State of Iowa. The 'City" folk from Ames or Cresco, even Mason City looked forward to playing here. We all looked forward to the brawl behind the bleachers after the game.

Growing up was injurious and costly. We had bruises and bumps and rarely a broken bone. But the most ambitious attitude we took from it all was - we 'Played Hard'. I wouldn't trade it for the world.