The song that plays as you wait to be connected to Big Bear High School football coach Dave Griffiths’ cell phone is a familiar one.
I fell in to a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns, burns, burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.
The mountains around Big Bear, of course, were recently engulfed in flames. It’s nice to see that at least one local resident was able to keep his sense of humor throughout the ordeal, which has closed off Highway 18 the only sane, paved approach to Big Bear Middle School from the lowlands.
To get to Big Bear’s game Saturday with Citrus Hill, you had to take an insane, 2 1/2-hour detour around the back of the San Bernardino Mountains, following something called Highway 38. Good thing, too. The Bears lost on a last-second field goal, their first loss since November of 2005. And nobody needed to see that.
Now the city of Big Bear Lake needs something to take its mind off the fire and the local prep football team.
Snowboarding, anyone?