Oct. 18, 2004

Coming Clean

After long and difficult negotiations with my literary agent and the sports info department, we have finally settled on a contract to continue with the Goal Post by Brian Dooley, brought to you by (sponsor to be named later). The bottom line is that if I submit the article, they will put it up on the web. I was under the impression that they would just magically appear on a weekly basis without much thought or input from me. Just another excuse. Soccer has some great excuses, or should I say reasons.

"I suppose you have a valid reason for not having your homework done", said Mrs. Kerrybushnader. "Well, yes I certainly do" "I hope the dog didn't eat it", she said smirking and evil smirk. "Well, indirectly", I said. "Indirectly?" she repeats with a genuine look of interest. "Yes, my cat ate the paper, and then my dog ate the cat".

Let me get you all up to date. This article is brought to you by The Weather Channel. Weather is something we have had enough of by now. I do not want another reference to the weather. I have become a meteorologist these past few weeks. I know the cone of error, the projected path, the level of hurricane force winds, and the northern wall of the eye, the outer bands and of course the fetal position.

"Hey coach, how's the weather?" "The pressure is dropping and the low is coming from above us. But the high pressure in the Gulf is creating a steering pattern for the front to push into the panhandle. If the warm currents of the Atlantic allow the depression to develop, I just might have to shoot you".

The Georgia and FSU games were cancelled due to a rainy and windy day. The Weather Channel and every channel for that matter, said something about Hurricane Frances. This is of course, after Hurricane Charlie came through the gulf and west coast a few days back. It was a great day to fly a kite, but soccer was out of the question. The university closed and we all prepared for a windy weekend. The storm passed north of us, but we lost power for a few days and the university stayed closed for the week. We were not able to train for five days and classes were cancelled. We were able to practice a few times and then we took off for the College of Charleston tournament.

I set me alarm but it didn't go off. I don't know what went wrong, but I suspect the Time Elf snuck in during the night and turned off my alarm.

Charleston, SC is a nice place. We were happy to be on the road and away from all the confusion back home. We were able to concentrate on soccer and we managed a difficult win over Charleston, 2-1. Denise Brolly scored directly from a corner kick with 24 seconds to go in the game. We ran out of there like we stole something. But as luck would have it, there was another collection of wind and rain, moving in a circular pattern called Ivan milling about the Atlantic and the Gulf. Of course every projection had it landing directly in my front yard.

Our next game was a great one. American scored 40 seconds into the game. It seems the first whistle failed to wake us up. We managed to get a tying goal, and then battle through OT to earn the tie. American was a very good team. They had beaten Alabama convincingly and I am sure they will turn some heads in their region.

Luckily for South Florida, Ivan decided to follow a different path and went up to the panhandle of Florida. Charlie, Frances, Ivan, what could possibly be next?

I will let you know.