Away Game

By Uncle Hans

Winter made a sudden appearance in the Midwest on Thursday.  We practiced Thursday afternoon at 28 degrees with a 50 mile an hour wind. Unforgettable. We left early Friday for a game with Olivet Nazarene University, located about an hour south of Chicago. We drove in snow all day. About halfway there, our bus engine blew, stranding us on the freeway in the snow. It took about 3 hours for the coaches to arrange to rent two 15 passenger vans so we could keep going.......

We arrived at Olivet and it was just starting a combination of sleet and snow. But then the sun came out a little and it stopped. The game was bone chilling cold with a nasty wind.

This was the schedule of the day's events. And, yes, we stood for the national anthem with our helmets off and our hands over our hearts.........

Everyone here is watching a coin in the air. We won the coin toss, but it turned out to be the highlight of the game....

This is our coach in blue personally greeting each and every TBC Lions fan, which didn't take him very long. I believe they were all parents of players.

We lost the first half of the game 49 to 6. The touchdown we scored may well have been the highlight of the season, even though the other team already had the second string in. We won the second half, 0 - 0.  22 healthy and eligible players participated in the game for Trinity. Three were injured. That could make the season's last game next week pretty interesting. We play against a team that is a good match for us, but we might be down to 19 players......

The 13 hour trip home was uneventful. I was happy because they asked me to drive the last half of the trip. It was fun to do something useful, for a change.  I found out later that the rental company policy was "25 years and older", for drivers. The coaches were all exhausted with what had happened in the previous 36 hours and I was the only one left over 25.  LOL!

     The guys took it all in stride, told each other the story of the touchdown we scored over and over, and passed around the bottle until 5 a.m. when we got back to Ellendale.

   I admit that I took a few myself. And I admit that I am starting to miss those guys already. They are Family with a capital "F"!!

Uncle Hans

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