Catching up from where I left off...
The Ohio State game did not go as planned. Perhaps the less said about it, the better.
The following week, the Spartan men's basketball team lost yet again to Duke. The Blue Devils are MSU's kryptonite, and losing to them is agonizing. I'm sure it's far worse for Tom Izzo than it is for us fans.
Last Saturday, I scored two tickets to the home finale football game against Maryland. The weather that day was abysmal, so my wingman--my elder son--bailed on me about a half-hour before we were to leave for Spartan Stadium. I can't say I blame him.
Allow me to take a moment and complain about how college sports have become a slave to the whims of television. There is no way a mid or late November football game in the upper Midwest should kick off at 4:00 PM. And to make it even worse, the constant television timeouts are interminable.
So I trudged my way through the mucky, wet, already dark at 3:30 campus of MSU to the stadium. Nobody--and I mean NOBODY--was tailgating in this grey gloom.
Having zigzagged up the ramp to Section 105 in the east upper stands, I found my seat on the wet aluminum bleacher and decided it may be best to stand. Rain turned to sleet, but I survive the first quarter. By midway through the second quarter, it was clear that the knitted gloves I wore were useless in the damp conditions, as they were saturated with water and I may as well have wrapped wet cold towels around my hands. The gloves were removed and relegated to my coat pockets.
Then there was my miscalculated choice of footwear: running shoes. My feet were frozen and I could barely feel my toes. Never again. Note to self: wear winter boots in all future November football games in which the temperature is under 45 degrees.
At halftime, the Spartans held a 14-0 lead. I seriously considered abandoning the game, but then I remembered how my son and I had left for home during the weather delay of the Penn State game. I decided to walk around the upper deck concourse and attempt to warm up at least a bit.
The third quarter started and I was resolved to take it a quarter at a time. Maybe fewer than 30 people remained in the upper deck. At the risk of sounding insensitive to a real tragedy, it was as if we were on the Titanic going down with the ship, having declined opportunities to escape in lifeboats.
I found it was more tolerable to move around to keep my blood flowing, and the third quarter went quickly. When an usher encouraged us few upper deck stragglers to move down to the lower deck, I gladly did so.
The tiny crowd remaining in Spartan Stadium acted punch drunk, practically delirious from the wet, cold, icy, snowy conditions. Maryland mounted a bit of a rally in the fourth quarter, scoring a touchdown to cut the score to 17-7. The Terrapins later threatened to make it a one possession game when they lined up for a field goal. Suddenly, a ho-hum game became tense, which helped stave off the cold weather. The Terps missed the field goal and the Spartans survived with a 17-7 win.
And I also survived.
There were moments during the game when I wondered, "Am I endangering my life being out here?" I could barely wiggle my toes when the game ended and I had images of me having my frostbit toes amputated because I was too stubborn to leave a college football game.
Thankfully, the walk back to my car worked wonders, and I could feel all of my extremities after the 20 minute trudge had concluded. Ones favorite team winning also helps get the blood flowing.
So today the Spartans will be finishing a better than expected regular season in New Jersey against Rutgers. I will watch it from the climate controlled warmth of my house.
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