Matt calling the game and Matt's mind games


Not everyone knows this, but Matt Tjapkes is not only the Executive Director of HFP…he’s the voice of the Grand Haven Buccaneers. Matt is a professional play-by-play sports broadcaster when he’s not running our office.

The final game of the year was between Grand Haven and Grand Rapids Union. The Buccaneers wasn’t a terrific high school football team this year, and the record hasn’t been very exciting (even though our two grandsons were on the roster). But the GR Union Red Hawks’ record is dismal. And it goes way back. The school is located in an older neighborhood, the football team hasn’t won a game in a long, long time, and nobody even bothers to come out to watch them anymore. A while back, at a high school contest in Muskegon County, there were 4 fans in the stands.

So tonight, Grand Haven finally had excitement in the stadium…the Bucs tromping the opposition. At half-time, 35-0. It was raining, and it was cold, but our local fans finally had something to cheer about. For Grand Rapids Union, on the other hand, it was same old, same old. A 54-0 loss.

“It gets tired,” says team captain Caleb Smith. “It gets old. But you can’t stop.”

“We don’t quit,” says Coach Rick Angstman, “no matter the score.”

One has to admire this rag-tag group of football players who, in these dismal conditions and in this unfavorable situation, keep on keepin’ on…some tears perhaps mixed with the raindrops in a game like that of tonight.

The emotional storm for Matt, while he excitedly calls the touchdowns for the Bucs, is that all day long he’s working for the societal counterpart to the Red Hawks, Michigan prisoners.

People cheer when they’re put behind bars, sneer when they trip and fall, seldom show up for visits, and nod knowingly when they fail time after time. Like the Red Hawks, these losers behind bars tolerate the sacks, the fumbles and the interceptions every day of the week.

Yet, on a regular basis, Matt hears prisoners echoing the words of Captain Caleb: “It gets tired, it gets old, but you can’t stop!”

And Matt, and I, and the HFP team echo Coach Angstman’s words every day, as we do our best while standing beside these Michigan prisoners: “We don’t quit, no matter the score!”

Matt is outstanding at promoting the Bucs. That’s one of his jobs. But as his dad, I can tell you this: At his other job he’s for the underdog.

He comes by it honestly.



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