Oskaloosa Expresses It’s Pride In A Hometown Giant

Cheers go up as the New York Giant score a touchdown at Dr. Salami's in Oskaloosa

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Not every person is a football fan, but the majority of Oskaloosa gathered around those flickering big screen TV’s to watch their own hometown ‘Giant’ defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI (46).

Fellowship Bible Church held it’s own Super Bowl party, which is probably a fairly common happening in churches across America. But, this unassuming church had reason to pay special attention.

Oskaloosa may be where Sash called home, but his church home was Fellowship Bible right along the main east-west highway in town. Tyler managed to find time to share some words with the congregation Sunday morning, with the help of a cell phone and some technology.

“We just think it’s fun,” Rodney De Ronde, who is the pastor at the church, said of having someone so closely connected with the church being in the Super Bowl. “We talked about the chances of this ever happening again being slim to none. So, we thought we’d make the best of it and have whoever wanted to come together and watch the game.”

And that’s exactly what they did. The projector, normally used to project the words to songs in worship service, projected one of the biggest games ever for Oskaloosa. There were 2 other TV’s running the game as well, so there was little chance of missing the action.

Fellowship Bible Church turned out Sunday evening, not for a regular service, but to watch one of their very own play in the Super Bowl

But the Super Bowl action started earlier for this congregation as Pastor De Ronde and Sash worked out some time for him to talk with the congregation during the morning service. “It started out because of the topic of the message. It was about being the body of Christ and how that’s really analogous to being a team. And so I think, why don’t we just give Tyler a call. It’s a special day, and there’s a lot of other stuff going on as well during the service.”

So after a few text messages, it got all worked out. And after a ‘false start’, the magic happened and the congregation was able to talk with, and hear one another; and before they knew it, the approximately 10 minute question and answer session was over.

The place didn’t matter. Oskaloosa residents flocked to their favorite watering holes. Whether it was Bucks Place where they had a 132″ projection TV running, with all sorts of free food, or to Dr. Salami’s where they were shouting out specials during the big game.

Iowa State Senator Tom Rielly (D-Oskaloosa) was on hand at Dr. Salami’s to watch the game with friends and enjoy the festive atmosphere. “This is a dream come true for everybody”, Rielly said. “I’m living vicariously through him right now. I’m thinking of when I was a little kid I’d love to play in the NFL. He’s not only playing in the NFL, he’s playing in the Super Bowl and playing!”

“I am so proud of him, and I tell you what, I am so proud of his mom and dad”, was Rielly’s thoughts, “they’re the best people you’ll ever meet.”

As the clocked ticked down, the Giants were up by 4 and the Patriots had the ball with 7 seconds remaining… Oskaloosa held it’s collective breath as the ball floated into the end zone…and the Giants held on to win.

With that, a shout went out around town for not only the win, but for our ‘Hometown Giant’.

Posted by on Feb 6 2012. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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