Hurt, Bench Lashes Out

SOUTH WATERFORD -- After what seemed like another beautiful day had ended at the 'Wam and all the players had left, ghostlike sobs could be heard from the empty field.

Happier Days: Bench hangs with friends & family

     "I'm just so tired of all of it," a weeping Judy Bench exclaimed.  "I used to look forward to Sundays when everyone would come and hang out with me.  Now it's just me...and Hank, of course."
     Bench, in her 40th year of supporting players at the 'Wam waivered between sadness and anger.
     "Look at LaBossier.  He moved a mile a way.  Does he come to visit?  Hardly ever. And you know what get's me the most?  They won't talk to me all morning except when they need something: 'was he over the line?' they ask, or 'was Easton's count too fast?' I'm sick of it."

Getting some brief attention: Game Over

     Hank Burns, Bench's only companion for the last month agreed, but sounded a more defeated rather than angry note: "It's a sign of the desperation of old age when you feel married to a bench. I spent four years in college sitting on her distant cousin [Fred Bench of Amherst] but at least then there were a bunch of us.  Now, I just find myself running out of things to say to her.  We just sit here...in silence..."
   Asked what she expects this week, Bench got angrier.  "Expect?  That's what's been killing me -- somehow I expect things will be different.  I just need to face reality: I'm not needed and can't wait for Bobby to take me in for the winter!"
   After a long pause, hardly moving in the warm mid-day sun, Bench sounded a more wistful tone: "But, I do hope to see everyone again.  Please let them know that I'm really not that angry. I just want things to be the way they were..."
     Bench, along with others, hopes to see you Sunday.