I got to sleep in yesterday because the trainer switched our weekend classes from Saturday to Sunday. And thank heavens for that!! I still wake up at 6am anyway just because I’m so used to that and wouldn’t you know I had a nice sinus headache worked up? Ugh. So I took some meds and went back to bad, at least content knowing I could relax and take it slow since I didn’t need to be at the football field until 1:30. Unfortunately the cats had other ideas. While they do usually romp around a bit in the mornings chasing each other and wrestling, this was much more intense and was not letting up. I finally had to physically separate them by taking one upstairs and shutting him in the bathroom for 10 mins. That got them to break that patters, but even while I was lying on the couch snoozing, they were scampering around getting into things. Normally they would settled into a nap! Darn animals. I was quite happy to head out to the high school for my board member shift and to cheer on the final 2 playoff games of the day there – with Sportboy’s team being the final of those 4pm.
Get to the field and the noon game is almost over. About 6 mins left. One of the other board members fills me on some drama (head coach not there, who knows why, one player already picked up and off to the dr to see if an ankle is broken – yipes). All of a sudden the coach who had stepped in in the head coache’s absence goes down! He was yelling at the refs, the refs threw a flag and then he dropped to the ground hard and out. We had to call 911 and an ambulance drove onto the field to tend to him. Thankfully it seems as if he merely fainted, but there was heaviness and tingling in his legs and his blood pressure was through the roof. So they took him away and the game resumes with yet another guy stepping up to run things for the team. Thankfully they were ahead and did win the game, but now the game is way late ending meaning the next two will be delayed. The 2pm game started around 2:15.
Then I see something that I know will mean trouble – the same head referee from Week 1 ambles onto the field to cover the final two games. Oh NO! Not only was he throwing flags over the craziest things that first week, but on top of that he was SLOW to make his calls every time. Which meant further delays.
Thankfully, other than being late to start, the 2pm games goes without any drama. Our team wins after a slow first half, but now they have moved on to the Conference Finals. For the second year in a row two TPPW D1 teams have advanced that far.
Meanwhile, I’ve had lots of other board members on the field with me up to my son’s games starting, but I knew I would be closing the field on my own which is normally not a problem at all. We were done paying people so I was able to take the checkbook and the weigh in scales to my car and all I would have to do after our game was grab the referee cooler of water and close up the announcers booth.
As long as there is no drama.
Famous last words.
Since our game didn’t start until 4:15, I knew we would be playing into darkness and would need the lights to be turned on. Again, normally not a problem since the custodians know the drill and usually turn on the lights around 5pm. Just about any time I looked around the field during the first half, I could see the custodian somewhere around the field so I didn’t give it another thought. After all, it was my son’s game so I was a fan at that point. And it was a big game!! Even though we scored very quickly to go up 8-0 and then again towards the end of the half (with a blocked extra point) which put us up 14-0, it was all very hard fought. The other team showed some tricky formations on offense, but as always, our coaches were ready and had prepared the team. Still, the had a couple of VERY elusive runners who broke free a few times causing us to be quite nervous about their potential for a comeback.
As the third quarter started, and the sun was going down the coaches on the field look up and holler about the lights. Our announcer says into the mic “can we get a board member to get the lights turned on?” Oh shit – that’s now me and only me as all the others have left! I ask the announcer to ask for a custodian and I looked around. Suddenly the guy is GONE. No little truck anywhere. Crap. So I take off all the way to the other side of the stadium to where I know his shed is and where he stays if he’s taking a break. I walked that whole back area and saw nothing! Not even his truck which meant he wasn’t on a break, he was just somewhere further away even on the high school campus and clearly had forgotten about the lights. Now I’m calling other board members to see if we have a number we can call to reach the guy. No luck. I walk around the back way back to the announcers booth to ask him to keep calling out for the guy. As I do that, the other team scores. Arrrgh! 14-7 and I’m missing it. Up in the booth one of our guys breaks away on a long run! I check the backfield before I get too excited because we’ve had several runs like that called back for illegal blocking. No flag! Yes! So I start cheering along with everyone else in the booth and he gets down to the 2 yard line! And then……..FLAG!!!!!!!! That damn referee threw it waaaay late, but also waaay back at the beginning of the run…WTF?? You are supposed to throw those right away when you see the foul!! Not wait until the guy is tackled!! But like I said – truly craptastic referee. So now I am doubly pissed at this guy, frustrated for our team and wondering where the hell the damn custodian is???!!! I head out for another circle around the campus when a dad offers to help so we are about to fan out when I spot it – the truck!! Yes!!! The dad takes off running after the truck as I stop on the field at the end zone and watch my son take a handoff and wiggle and juke his way down the field for some good yardage. He been scampering around the whole game running back punts & kickoff sin his typical pin ball man style. Then he goes out for a pass as the QB is scrambling and the ball gets thrown over his head and out of bounds. I know this means we have to punt so I leave the backfield area and head back up the stands to sit back with my parents just as the lights go on – yay! As I make my way up another dad says “Is your son hurt?”
And there he sits on the end of the bench, helmet off, ice pack being applied to the back of his right leg. I know it must really hurt because the defense is about to go out on the field to try and hold this team back yet again and he’s the starting corner and his freaking helmet is off! So I head back towards the field and the team mom tells me it’s his hamstring. Shoot. Well, nothing I can do until after this is over, and its pretty tense so I head back up to the stands. Only I cannot stand it! Poor boy is sitting there, trying to see over his teammates heads and every play is a huge one. The backup corner has to come up big – and then even worse, the OTHER starting corner starts to have foot cramps and has to pull himself out about every other play to have get stretched out. So now they are plugging in people to fill the holes. Somehow though, our team keeps holding them back until, with 27 seconds left, that maniac referee inserts himself yet again and calls a really lame roughing the passer penalty which gives the other team a 1st down at the 20 yard line! Gawd! I’m back down on the field now, on the sideline with SB, biting my nails off with every play. Thankfully, the referees efforts did NOT pay off and the two passes they had time to attempt fell harmlessly incomplete. As the team celebrated on the field and ran over to hug SB and give him a high five since he couldn’t get up to join them. He was going to do the handshake line, but Coach made him sit.
I start to think about how we get him to the car. Clearly we have to carry his things. He’s with his dad, but my car is closer and we can get him there and then I can drive him to his dad’s car. Then I remember the referee cooler. And then the team mom is remind me we have to take the team gatorade containers because we have to provide that for the next game (which is on my weekend with SB so I was going to handle that). Then the announcer is asking me what he has to do to shut down the booth for the night. Aaack!! Oh, and THEN, someone from the other sideline runs over and asks if we have an epipen in our medical bag because one of their players was having some sort of severe alergic reaction and they didn’t have one. As I contemplate having to call an ambulance yet AGAIN, we thankfully find what they need and that crises is averted. I talk the announcer thru closing the booth. I assigned SB’s dad to grab the Gatorade jug & water bottles. I grab SB’s gear bag and the cooler. And who grabs SB because there was no way he was letting him walk?
The best head coach ever of course!
I will be SO GLAD when my board duties are over!!!!!!!!!!
I’d love it if you changed it, so I can more effectively waste time at work!
