The weekend of insanity

First off, congratulations to the Vermont Ice Storm for their 31-19 victory over Chategueay on Saturday night in the slop and mess of Colchester High School. The Storm move on to take on Watertown on Saturday night for all of the marbles in what should be an incredible game. Pack Colchester High as this will be the first football title game outside of high school to take place in Vermont. Get em boys.

Now, for the insanity that was the weekend. Friday night I had the Springfield/Montpelier game down in Springfield as the Cosmos won that one by two scores. The field in Springfield has to be one of the nicest in the state because of its setting. The field is surrounded by trees, the stands are always packed, and the press box is way up on a hill, so the view was simply outstanding. I guess we were the first radio crew to broadcast a game there in the last four years, so that was some fodder for the broadcast. It was funny, as the Yankees/Cleveland game was going on, the guy running the scoreboard kept asking me if I could find out what the score of the game was. Too bad I couldn't tell him the Yankees had lost while we were still there.

So, I get home at midnight, listen to the Sox win and then wake up six hours later to head to Amherst, MA for the Middlebury/Amherst tilt. Coffee in hand, bagel in hand, it was a very nice trip down with the foliage and the assorted road kill that was on the side of the road. It was a great game with the Panthers moving to 3-0 on the year, and they will be a team to contend with this season in the NESCAC. The offense was strong and the defense continued to live up to all of their expectations. It was a brutally hot and humid afternoon and I was sweating my tail off up in the booth. Good press box, food there and ready, and a Sports Information staff that is top notch.

About two seconds after the game was over, I was in the car and headed back up north for the Ice Storm/Titans game. Now, as we have been broadcasting Ice Storm games for two years, and getting to know the players as I have, there was no way in the world I was going to miss this game. Mother Nature had other ideas as from about Exit One on I-89 on up, it was pouring rain and as foggy as a typical day in San Francisco. I finally got there with about six to go in the half to the cries from Dawn Miller of, "Oh sure Chris, fly right on by me and NOT SAY HELLO!!!" Ah yes, it is good to be loved. Anyway, I hobbled my tail on up to the booth, grabbed the headphones and mic, and sloshed my way over to the mud pit. I would like to thank the Chategueay quarterback for calling one of the most boneheaded plays in football history which gave me something to talk to Offensive Coordinator Scott Agulia about during the half. On the last play of the half, this guy tossed a pass down the sideline when he should have taken a knee, and Bomby returned it 70 yards for a score. Talk about a shift in momentum and the QB leaving his brain at the border.

So, I was drenched, and of course Stormy was being himself and doing everything in his power to mess up a guy who was starting to get so pooped that I was seeing three of him. Trust me, one is bad enough. So, Doc gets even wetter with the post-game Gatorade bath and the cheerleaders mud wrestled in the slop at mid-field. Ah, I love female mud wrestling and football together.

Because I am one who doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word "rest", I got out of bed the next morning and headed to Barre to do PA for the Vermont Ravens/Exeter game. This game was in many ways a pure disgrace to football as Exeter showed up with a grand total of 12 players. Yes, 12 players and one of them got hurt so the 11 on the field had to play every single down. How a team can be that disorganized just blows my mind. The guys from Exeter played very well under the circumstances, but to show up with only 12 guys makes me wonder about the league itself.

As it was a 42-0 game, I had to do something to keep myself awake and the fans involved, so UVM coach Darren Haynes was my target of the afternoon. I kept razzing him about filming the game and that he was stealing signals in the mold of Bill Bellicheater. Being the tremendous guy that he is, Darren just gave it all back and we had a great time. Darren is this huge guy who could probably still play the game and is one of the nicest guys on the planet. Anyone who takes my grief and doesn't kill me is good in my book.

Totals for the weekend are:

Three games in about 26 hours.
Road kill: I counted 28 dead things on the side of the road.
Coffee consumed: So much that I had blood in my coffee system.
Miles on the car: 792
Times cursing Mother Nature on Saturday: 43 on 89 alone.
Time spent hanging out with the tailgaters: About ten minutes as the play-by-play mobile had to get back home for the Storm game.

Until next week when Darren Haynes will probably be breaking down the signals of some poor team that he stole.......