Tigerettes take avid sports fan to another level

(Soapboxes are guest opinions from our readers, and anyone is welcome to write one. David Gillaspie is a Tigard resident.)

By David Gillaspie

, Mar 20, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (8 Reader comments)

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I attended my first Oregon School Activities Association Dance and Drill State Championships at Memorial Coliseum on Saturday. I went with my wife, her friend and her friend’s daughter. Just me and the girls going to the dance championships.

My buddies said, “Heh?”

As a long-time sports fan, my standards for a great event are high. It needs teams with a seasoned rivalry, like Yankees and Red Sox, Celtics and Lakers or, it turned out, Tigard Tigerettes vs. Lincoln Dance Team.

Just like wrestling coach Dan Gable’s nine consecutive championships at University of Iowa, Lincoln Dance’s coach Sara Anderson dominates. In the 4A, now 6A, large-team competition, she has six championships in a row, going for seven. That’s more than Oregon City’s girls basketball dynasty. To make the competition more urgent, Tigard finished second to Lincoln’s dance team five times.

I’m an avid sports fan. My wife agrees, but calls it something else. She says I think every game is “The Big Game.” She calls my interest in the Dallas Cowboys an obsession. I disagree. I don’t even have a jersey.

More than anything else, I like to see how the local teams fare. I was in an Autzen Stadium luxury box for Tigard’s OSAA Football Championship in 2003. I was matside when Tigard wrestler Tyler Gillaspie won Freestyle and Greco-Roman State Championships in 2006. I’ve been to sporting contests ranging from grade-school soccer to NFL games, from girls youth softball to, major league baseball. I’ve been to kids recreational league basketball games and NBA play-offs.

This year’s dance and drill championships became one of my highlights.

After seeing the recent Oregon state wrestling championships at Memorial Coliseum, I wondered how the place would look for dance and drill. I used to watch the Blazers play there. I’ve seen the circus there. What would it look like for dance?

I didn’t need to take a sample to feel magic in the air. I realized the seriousness of the moment when an usher blocked me from taking my seat during a performance. There would be no distractions from the nosebleed section. Others joined me waiting on the steps, excited parents and friends there to see the show. It felt contagious.

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