Reflections on a Saturday

It's just after noon in Kansas City. The sun is shining, it's in the mid-70s, and college football is on just about every channel. So why am I sitting in a room at the Kansas City Airport Marriott watching Monk DVDs? The early college football games aren't appealing to me, even if Kansas State is playing Miami. I'm waiting for the 6 p.m. hour, when LSU hosts Washington and Missouri hosts Georgia. 

I didn't need the coat. Jack convinced me that I would be fine with the layers I had with me. He was right. I got by with a turtleneck and a sweatshirt at Beloit last night. It was almost perfect football weather, mid-60s, clear skies and a slight breeze. 

The football game did not match the weather. At least if you were a Smith Center fan. Beloit won 54-0. The Trojans outgained the Redmen 471-83, and the Beloit defense intercepted three passes. The Trojans were stopped on downs on their first possession, but scored touchdowns on their next six drives and led 46-0. I thought there would be a running clock at that point, with 5:10 to go in the third quarter, but the officials waited until the final period before running the clock. The game got over at 8:50, one of the fastest games I have covered in Kansas, short of those 8-man games stopped early by the 45-point mercy rule.

In 1987, a game between Shaw and Brother Martin in the New Orleans Catholic League which took 78 minutes to play. Brother Martin is my alma mater, but I wasn't attending school there yet, as I was only in the sixth grade. 

Like the game at Norton the previous Friday, I was besieged by all of the people I know from both Smith Center and Beloit at the game. I shot pictures from the Smith Center sideline during the first half and the first part of the third quarter, then migrated to the Beloit sideline by the end of the period and stayed there for the final period. I told quite a few people from Smith Center about my excursion to Shawnee Mission for the Thursday night game, and they were mesmerized by what money can do for a school district. The two schools which played, Olathe North and Shawnee Mission East, have nearly as many students in one grade level than Smith Center and Beloit have in their entire schools combined. Then again, Overland Park has 175,000 people and is the second largest city in Kansas behind Wichita; Mitchell and Smith Counties may have 11,000 between them.

I did not do the play-by-play for the football broadcast this time, since the regular announcer, Mike Hughes, was back on duty. But I'll be back behind the microphone Tuesday for volleyball at Ellis.

Speaking of volleyball, this is my last free Saturday for awhile. I have three volleyball tournaments with Smith Center the next three weeks, starting with Belleville in one week. Then it's on to Hoisington and Concordia. Hopefully, I'll have three straight Saturdays of volleyball in October. Two are guaranteed with the Mid-Continent League tourney at Phillipsburg and sub-state; hopefully, the third will be a state tournament somewhere.

Here are my picks for later college football games today:

Texas A&M over Florida

LSU over Washington

Nebraska over UCLA

Missouri over Georgia

Oklahoma State over Arizona

Arizona State over Illinois