One down, three to go

Hello, hello to one and all. This is my crazy-go-nuts week in terms of fall playoff coverage. The weather is going downhill, and I've got a lot of long drives this week. One down, three to go.

So I really didn't need to read this in the weather news this morning:

...SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE LATE FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY EVENING FOR WEST AND NORTH CENTRAL UPPER MICHIGAN...

Now it just so happens that I will be driving up to Marquette on Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon this week, to cover playoff football games. The games themselves will be played inside the Superior Dome, which you saw photos of recently, and it's all nice and dry and warm inside. But to get there, you have to drive two hours through whatever weather the U.P. is enjoying at the time. To get home again, you have to drive two hours back through whatever. If you don't know. Marquette is in the lake effect snow belt, on the south shore of Lake Superior--they can get vast quantities of snow. So it's shaping up as one of those weekends.

On Tuesday, I drove to the volleyball regional tournament. That is an 80-mile drive each way; it's a lot closer to Lake Michigan than to Lake Superior. Our team won (just barely, in five games) and advances to the regional championship match tonight. My wife is coming along to keep me company (and, oh yes, to pick up some low-cost kitty food in Iron Mountain), and we'll stop by to see my mom, too. It's fun to have someone along--nice to have company.

Last weekend, both the football teams played at home in their district championship games. One team played Friday night: It was about 40 degrees F and dry until a few raindrops fell in the final minutes. By that time they had won, so they were happy.

During the night, the rain continued, and it changed over to wet snow Saturday morning. The other team's game was at home, starting at 12:30 p.m. Remember the recent post about the game played in the rain and fog? This one had the same two teams at the same field, only it was played in daylight.

The field had taken a good soaking overnight, but the snowflakes were real pretty during the first half. and the field was in fairly good shape ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mudgm-Runplay-11-08.jpg[/IMG]

Not that every pass was caught ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mudgm-Incomplete-11-08.jpg[/IMG]

Or that every tackle was made ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mudgm-Tackle-11-08.jpg[/IMG]

So conditions were fairly good early in the game. But with all those football players chewing it up thoroughly over two hours of playoff football, the middle of the field got torn up and muddy and slick. Twas a muddy mess by the time it was over. The wet snow eased off during the second quarter, but some drier snow, driven by chilly winds out of the north, arrived during the second half.

As the game went on, the teams continued battling in the mire ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mudgm-Pileup-11-08.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mudgm-TackleB-11-08.jpg[/IMG]

Finally, the game was over. A touchdown in the first quarter was the only scoring in the game. As always, the teams shook hands when it was all over ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Mudgm-handshakes-11-08.jpg[/IMG]

I was talking to someone in the office today. Covering the game last Saturday was fun. Despite the rain and cold and mud. In fact, [I]because[/I] of the rain and cold and mud. It was outdoors. It was real. It was genuine football.

This weekend, I may be driving two hours through snow (twice) to got photos of teams playing on a plastic carpet in warm conditions. It's just not the same. To me, the fun part of football season ended last Saturday ... regardless of what happens in the playoffs.