Back to “work” on a bright, sunny Monday in the Twin Cities!
The temperature was 39 degrees here yesterday and it felt like about 80! We’re finally starting to lose some of our snowpack, unfortunately, there is a possibility of a big storm next Monday. So I guess I won’t be putting away the snowblower just yet!
I managed to get my 18 mile run in on Saturday morning. It was a brisk 14 degrees at the start, which was shortly after 7:00 AM. At the 10 mile mark, I stopped at my car to consume an energy gel and a shot of “Power Ade” to get a much needed boast for the final 8 miles. At the break I also noticed that a nice icicle had formed on the side of my sunglasses. I left it as a notice to all of the other runnners out there that I had indeed been out there, trudging away since sunrise! I managed to complete the 18 miles in about 2 hours and 40 minutes, which was my target pace.
Following the run it was time to head home and see if my son’s basketball team had won their opening game in their tournament. A win would mean they would play again shortly after 1:00 in the afternoon, a loss meant they would have played a second game right away and I would have missed it. They in fact did win and following a post-run meal and shower, I headed off to watch game number two. It was a rough, hard-fought game with my son’s team trailing at the half 37-30. For awhile it looked like they wouldn’t make it to Sunday’s championship game, but they rallied in the second half, took control of the game and won 71-58! The team was excited to get the chance to play in the “ship” as they call the championship game!
My wife had attended the first game on Saturday morning, but didn’t see the second since she had made plans to reconnect with some old high school friends in her hometown in Iowa. She left shortly after lunch on Saturday and was only gone one night. It was going to be me and the kids Saturday night so it was time to cook some steaks and watch a little Northern Iowa vs. Illinois State basketball on ESPN 2! The University of Northern Iowa is my alma mater and they are having a fantastic year in basketball and are more than likey headed to the NCAA. So the plan was to have a good “hearty” meal and enjoy watching my Panthers kick some “Redbird” tail! Only one problem…something called NASCAR! Yup, rain at a race in Las Vegas delayed the start of a NATIONWIDE, not even the weekend’s main race, for an hour and a half! That meant the UNI game was being switched to something like ESPN 30! To be fair, it was actually being switched to “ESPN Classic”, which I found out is no longer in our channel line-up! Oh I checked…we have ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN News, ESPN-U, a whole lot of other ESPN’s that are on “pay-per-view”, NFL Network, The Big Ten Network, FOX Sports North, even something called,”Versus”, but NO ESPN Classic! So it was agonizing to watch this race with it’s multiple “cautions”, which I believe they did on purpose just to slow the darn thing down AND the lengthy “post-race” interviews of what seemed like every driver in the race and quite possibly every fan in attendance as well! If I were the reporter I would have loved to ask, “So, Johnny Racer, tell me how it felt to spend the last three hours making high speed, left-hand turns!” ESPN 2 finally ended it race coverage and got to the basketball game by the start of the SECOND half. UNI managed to pull out a close victory and finish the season with 25 wins and 4 defeats.
Sunday brought the championship game for my son’s team. My wife made it back from her short weekend trip in time to join the rest of the family to cheer on the squad. The game was played in the “main” gym at the high school and their was a nice crowd in attendance. Unlike Saturday’s semi-final game, David’s team pulled away early and pretty much controled the game throughout. They survived a small run near the end of the game to win by 9 points and complete a perfect 20-0 season! There was a moving moment during the post game celebration when the coach addressed the team. The tournament had been dedicated to a gentleman who coached for a number of years in the league and tragically passed away about a year ago. His son, who was hesitant to play this year, was on the team and was presented with the “game chart” following the win. Also, all of the players received championship shirts that had a specially designed logo with a picture of the player’s father on it, which was a very fitting tribute. The family had also made a generous donation to the league to privide “scholarships” to kids who needed financial assistance with fees.
Following the game, we headed home and managed to catch the third period and overtime of the Canada-U.S. hockey game. Dispite living in “hockey heaven”, I’m not a huge a fan of the game, but I have to admit, yesterday’s game was one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever seen! It was thrilling to watch Team USA tie the game with twenty seconds left! Unfortunately, it was disappointing as Team USA fell short in overtime. However, much like the “Miracle On Ice” game, I’m sure people will remember this one for years to come!
I watched part of the Closing Ceremonies Sunday evening and loved how the Canadians poked fun at how the one arm of the “inside” version of the Olympic calderon wouldn’t come up during the Opening Ceremonies. In case you didn’t see it last night, with all but the last arm of calderon erect, they had a “mime” dressed as worker, pop-up out of the stage and act like he was looking for the problem. He wandered around to the front and “found” the problem, a supposed, unplugged electrical connection, which he preceeded to “reconnect” along with a big spark and then the arm quickly rose! It was very well done and made up for the glitch that plagued the ceremony sixteen days earlier. However, one of my lasting memories of the Olympics will certainly be “The Great One”, Wayne Gretzky being driven around downtown Vancouver on the back of a pick-up during a downpour, holding the Olympic torch, while the drivers of the pick-up “appeared” to be lost and looking for something for Gretzky to light! At times it looked like they needed to stop and ask for directions, but of course being male, they refused to do so! “We’re find that thing if we have to drive around the city all night!” Gretzky, didn’t look like he was fully “briefed” on what was occurring and appeared to be less than pleased with his ride thru rainy Vancouver! In all, the Olympics were a fun two weeks to watch!