Saturday, September 26, 2009

One of the nicest days ...

It was one of the nicest September Saturdays in the history of September Saturdays. It was so nice that we opted to cancel our indoor tennis time at Wooddale and play at Woodbury High School. There was just a hint of a wind and the temperature was in the mid sixties when we began hacking a new can of tennis balls around. It's sort of bitter sweet, too. Rich has left town to resume his retirement in Tucson and next week Curt takes his show on the road to his retirement community in Arkansas. We played and enjoyed the day as we realized that the winds of winter are soon going to take charge again.

I went home for lunch and found the young'uns had gone off - PP to work with her MCC youth group, and UH to a conference or class that he was interested in. I decided to wander around Hamline to see if I could find an athletic event to watch. I found two in progress when I arrived - the women's soccer team was playing Carlton, and the football guys were playing St Thomas. The soccer game was tied at 0-0 at half time when I checked on the gridders. The Tommies were kicking butt at 28-0 in the second quarter, so I went back to watch the soccer game. It was closely contested and it looked like it might end in a tie, necessitating overtime, but with about two minutes left in the game, a scramble in front of the Hamline goal resulted in a Carlton goal, and they won 1-0. The scoreboard below records the decision.



There was the usual mass handshake and the blue clad Carlton Knights went home happy. I remember from my soccer coaching days that sometimes the teen aged boys on UH's teams would sometimes complain that the other team would spit on their hands before the hand shake - I guess to register their dislike for our team. I'm reasonably sure that the college ladies in this game didn't resort to that tactic. They actually seemed pretty friendly.



The quality of the play was not the highest that I've witnessed, but they seemed to be playing hard and enjoying a beautiful September day. One of the best.

1 comment:

santini said...

I've watched some small college football off and on, though not this year. It always seemed to be cold. It looks like you had a beautiful day -- good job finding a way to spend it outside.