MN High School Football Playoffs -- Round One

Some interesting scores:

Section 3AA:

• #7 Pipestone Area 31, #2 Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop 23
• #5 Minnesota Valley Lutheran 20, #4 Luverne 0
• #8 BOLD 21, #1 Windom Area 19 (OT)

Section 5AA:

• #2 Holdingford 46, #7 Paynesville Area 0
• #1 ACGC 49, #8 Maple Lake 0

Section 6AA:

• #3 West Central Area 26, #6 Benson 7
• #2 Breckenridge 55, #7 MACCRAY 26
• #4 Ottertail Central 31, #5 Morris Area 14
• #1 Yellow Medicine East 49, #8 Lac Qui Parle Valley 6

Section 3AAA:

• Fairmont 48, Redwood Valley 13

Section 2AAAA:

• Marshall 36, New Ulm 13

Section 3 9-Man:

• Ashby 36, Lakeview 34

Section 3A:

• Mt. Lake/Butterfield-Odin 35, RTR 22

Fantasy Football -- Halleluja!

Things are finally starting to turn around for me.

To start things off -- the Yahoo! league with the Minnesota Boys: I finally won my first game. My first victim was Cory, but I consider myself pretty lucky, since he's an excellent running game in Shaun Alexander. It just seemed, on my part, that my guys finally lived up to my expectations for once. Daunte Culpepper finally played a great game -- passing-wise -- but other than that, I really didn't have any stand out players.

Next week, I'm up against Mike -- the battle between 1-6 teams. We've both been struggling all year long, not really finding anything that just clicks, but in the end, hopefully I'll pull out the victory to pick up my second win in a row.

Now, the heartbreakin' league -- the ESPN one with the South Dakota Boys. Let's just say that I should be sitting at 5-2 right now, but instead, I'm 3-4. Weeks 5 and 6 were particularly rough, losing both of those games by a total of 9 points. I could've killed myself -- since it was a situation where I should have played someone else off the bench.

Bye weeks have been the killer. I've been in situations where I had to pick up really point-less players (pun intended) and they, really, would not give me any significant points.

Last week, Week 7, I pulled something off that I cannot even explain. With Tom Brady and Byron Leftwich, both quarterbacks, on bye weeks -- plus Marc Bulger injured -- I was screwed to find a new quarterback for Week 7. I had to sacrifice a position player, so I decided to play with no kicker, which is pretty much the best play in that situation. I picked up Kelly Holcomb, quarterback for the Buffalo Bills.

It all culminated into the Monday night football game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Jets. I had T.J. Duckett, running back for the Falcons, plus the Falcons defense. My opponent for Week 7 was completely done, with all of his players completed on Sunday. I was about 18 points behind -- thinking that it's in the bag, then I find out that Duckett is out with a high-ankle injury. "Shit."

So, all of my hopes are resting on the laurels of a strong Falcons defense. Through most of the game, things were going my way. The Falcons managed to sack Jets quarterback Vinnie Testaverde a couple of times, even forcing a few fumbles. The biggest points getter was a fumble returned for a touchdown, which was a crucial 6 points.

But in the end, the Falcons did give up 14 points to the Jets, which equates 1 point for me. After the initial update, ESPN had me losing by 5 points. Again, I was gyped!! To my surprise, I checked the ESPN web site again and they had me up by one win and the win, finishing 107 to 106.

Good fortunes are on my side finally, plus a picked up a few dark horses for next week, so I should be off and running.

The Man Who Stole The Show

I wish I would have brought my camera.

On Saturday, after getting ever-so-slightly-bored of taking care of "C-Dog", I drove into town to see what Mike was up to. After watching a game or two of college football, we headed up-town to "The Pop Shop" to pick up some alcohol. 12-pack of Miller Lite for me, a bottle of Jim Beam for Mike.

Like I said a few days ago, I needed to let loose, and let loose, I did. The beer was going down like water -- which didn't make it better for us, especially when we were playing Mike's dynasty on NCAA Football 2006. We won the first game -- but after more consumption of, ya know, we lost the next two games. It was about to wrap that deal up.

Good ol' buddy "Schrupper" shows up. I'll tell ya, it was the beginning of one hell of a night when he showed up. He immediately noticed all of the beer cans sitting in front of me and he decided that he needed to catch up. In the World of Schrupp, that is no difficult task. While I was away for a few minutes to put C-Dog back into its kennel, I returned with Schrupp just behind a few cans. It was no race on my part, although I was feeling pretty good, but when Schrupp is on a roll, there's no stopping him.

We made the decision to head down to go "midnight bowling" in Marshall, but before that, I got a tour of Schrupp and Becca's new, completely remodeled house. Before that, when Mike and Shane lived there, it was practically Party Central, reeking of spilled alcohol and cigarette smoke. This place was a complete 180 -- something incredibly impressive.

Becca was ill with a fever, so the four of us (now including Lacey) drove down and had some fun bowling. Somebody ordered a "tower" of tap beer (I'm not sure the approximate amount of glasses, but it was a boat-load), but only after a couple of glasses of that, I couldn't take no more. Tap Beer and Tony simply do not mix.

As Mike and I were having our little contest on who could throw a bowling ball the fastest (there was automatic scoring and the computer kept track of how fast we could throw a ball -- Mike won 20.8 mph to my 20.6 mph), Schrupp was still on his streak. He surpassed me and kept going, hitting the tower as much as possible. So much, in fact, that he dropped his bowling ball 5 TIMES, including smoking me in the knee with the ball. It was a glancing blow and I was alright.

The funniest was when Schrupp started to "interact" with the guys next to us on a neighboring lane (I am currently still laughing about this). Schrupp just stands there and points, motioning the guy to bowl. Later on, Schrupp thought they were talking smack (like calling him a "jackass") but Mike, Lacey, and I were in stitches -- with Schrupp getting understandably upset.

Towards the end of the night, Schrupp decided to show all of us that he could lift a bowling ball over his head (one hand!). I immediately backed up, knowing what was going on all night. Predictably, Schrupp dropped the ball, nearly missing his own head and almost crashing on top of his foot. Laughter and tears ensued. After that, we decided to get out of there.

With a cop following us around a little bit, Schrupp decides to go to the bathroom. We pull over behind the restaurant where he is the general manager of and uses a key to get in. I'm also begging him for food, since I actually didn't eat any dinner that night (no wonder I was so smashed). He comes out with something wrapped in saran wrap -- Schrupp thinks it's lasagna, but he wasn't sure. He just puts it in his coat pocket.

On the way home, we were listening to some 80's music. Now this is where Schrupp "stole the show." We were listening to Ray Parker, Jr.'s popular 80's hit, Ghostbusters when Schrupp appeared to be trippin' out. Everytime the background singers yelled, "GHOSTBUSTERS!", Schrupp would start making ghost and scary noises (again, I'm laughing). He'd stick his head up in between the front seats and attempted to scare Mike and Lacey with his "oooooh!" and his "boo!" You had to be there.

We eventually got home safe and sound -- but Sunday morning was quite rough. Damn Tap Beer. I got the dry heaves early that morning, just hoping and praying that something would come up. In the end -- nothing, leaving me to feel like absolute crap all day on Sunday.

And that was my wonderful weekend!

Speed Demon, Apparently

I'm driving back to the old home town on Saturday morning, minding my own business, while I am surprisingly notice that I'm getting pulled over by an unmarked HiPo.

There's something obviously wrong about this, I think to myself. I look at my speedometer, I'm moving at around 63-64 mph. Speed limit is 60 mph now, so I'm thinking, you know, what the big deal is.

As it turns out, the HiPo clocked me at going 65 -- but still, what the fuck?! Did I realize that I was speeding, he asks. As I explain to the copper, my cruise control is out the window (no lie) and sometimes I have to check myself. The HiPo let me off on a warning -- but damn, that just pissed me off.

Speed limits just a while ago were set at 55 mph. The police were pretty lenient, letting drivers hit up to about 63 mph before they started to pull anybody over. Now that the speed limit is 60, drivers will continue to push the limits, driving at speeds near 67 to 68. I wasn't even going that and I got nailed. I was getting passed all the way back to my old home town, especially by those South Dakotan nuts (okay, I'm a bit of a hypocrite) who still think that the speed limit is 65.

After every car that went by, I just said to myself, "Ow, my pride."

Man, what a nice feeling of paranoia. I cannot even bring myself to "keep up" with traffic anymore.

Still Remembering -- Eight Months Later

Every once in a while I still think of Jason. I was going through my old ZIP disks the other day, stumbling upon some old QuickTime videos that Jason and I made for our Multimedia class back in college. One was our "classic" Star Wars video (along with Troy), another was our "energy-saving tips" video, and lastly, was our "how to tape an ankle" video. I couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.

The picture at left was the last time that I saw Jason, during Hoff's wedding in Mad-Town (Jason is just above my head, the person to the right). I remember that night talking about him getting deployed, telling me how nervous his wife Teresa was and all that. I wouldn't have thought nothing of it -- Jason would have been gone for a year on his deployment and that would be that.

I regret not going to his deployment ceremony last October (it just happened to be my college's homecoming) or when he came back last December when he was on leave for Christmas. It just kills me. I just wish I could go back in time.


Jason was killed by a roadside bomb while helping other injured soliders in an overturned Humvee on February 21, 2005. The week was absolute hell for anybody who knew him like we did.

I saw Teresa in September while I went back to South Dakota for our annual Fantasy Football draft. I didn't even know she was going to be there, but it was a relief. I didn't get the chance to talk to Teresa at the funeral (and I was sicker than a dog), but seeing her again really was therapeutic for me.

It's been eight months to the day that I had found out the awful news from a message on my cell phone and it still seems like yesterday. The pain of losing a great friend and a roommate will linger on -- he will not be forgotten.

Wouldn't You Know It

My curious side got the best of me during my day of In-Service this past Wednesday. I was wondering who got the job that I had applied for this past April at a high school in South Dakota.

The job was for computers and social studies. I figured I'd be a shoo-in for the job, but it ended up that I obviously didn't get it. Later on -- I was glad.

So while I had oodles of time to spare, I checked out their school's web site to see who got the job. And wouldn't you know it, but old buddy and Lil' Troy's old college roommate -- ALTY -- picked up the job.

At least I got beat out by somebody who I knew -- all this time thinking they gave it to some other moron.

Good for you, Jeffy!

Outta My Mind

I'm bored as hell.

Katie's gone back to Mad-Town (again) for the weekend, so I'm stuck with the cats. But still, all is well, as I'm heading back to HOME town on Saturday to take care of "C-Dog" while my folks are attending a wedding in Fargo.

Man, I need to let loose. I'm just stuck in this rut, doin' my teaching thing -- grading papers and preparing for the week. It's nice that I've got a few days off now due to MEA, but what is there to do? What I really should do is to get out and rip up this town, TonyStyle. It's been a while -- it really sucks to be 27 years young, looking at some of my high schoolers, especially the seniors, going out and doing the things you used to.

Hopefully when I head back up north, some of The Boys are willing at least to suck down a few beers. I haven't seen any of them since Mike and Lacey's wedding in mid-September, so I'm sure we can "catch up."

*laugh* -- speaking of MEA weekend, I know exactly what I was doing 10 years ago this weekend -- I was mackin'.

Assholes

Simply put, the team who our 8th graders played for the season finale are a bunch of assholes. I could care less if we played them again.

Here's a scenario: 4th quarter, about a minute and a half left to play in the game. We're already down 44 to 8. It's the opponent's ball inside their own territory -- and oh, it's 4th and 10.

I'm hollering for the punt return team to go out, but wait -- they're going for it!

WHAT THE FUCK.

Time out.

Even the "chain gang" cannot figure it out. We decide to blitz everybody on the next play, but they burned us on a screen pass and scored. We ended up losing 52 to 8.

I didn't even bother shaking hands with those pricks. I just walked right off the field. My colleague had some "choice" words for the opposing coach -- nothing too harsh -- but yeah.

ASSHOLES.

Hit Up

The Art of the T.P.

It kind of gets old, ya know ... three times since Homecoming, including some of my 8th grade football players who "attempted" to saran wrap my pick-up truck. Boy, were they stupid!

Even last night after the big "Battle Axe" game here in town, I'm sitting at my computer, minding my own business -- then: ding dong, there goes the doorbell.

I roll my eyes, already assuming that I know who it is. Already, I'm not in the mood for it. It was just one of those days. I look outside and there are STREAMS of T.P. hanging off some of our bigger trees. I have to give it to 'em ... it was a work of art, but I just simply didn't have the energy to go after 'em or to take the T.P. down.

Oh, yeah -- and I did see the "mystery vehicle" down the street. Man, you think I was born yesterday.

REVENGE CAN BE A BITCH ... WATCH YER BACKS

Finally

It was our last away game of the season of 8th grade football yesterday. Already, just by judging the players reactions and hearing what happened last year by this particular team, we were going to get killed.

Yesterday, it was colder than hell -- wind blowing something fierce, but luckily for me, I came prepared this time, equipped with a stocking hat and gloves.

We started on offense first -- and wouldn't you know it -- we scored on our 3rd play from scrimmage. It was unreal, the first time our team actually scored on a long play from scrimmage. Soon after that, I started to mix it up, noticing weaknesses in their defense. I relied a little more heavily on the run, as I picked up on that the defensive ends really were slow ("icebergs", I called them) and we ran pitch left, pitch right all day long.

Our guys ran hard, and FAST, considering how cold it was. On defense, I'd be on the sidelines telling them to move around, especially their legs, to avoid tightness and freeze up. We'd get back out there on offense and just running them over.

After we scored our 3rd touchdown (on Panther Right 25 Orlando Dive -- fullback up the gut), I couldn't help getting a little excited. It's been few and far between that we've scored touchdowns, especially where we actually break one wide open. Walking back to the 40-yard line, I almost got emotional. I was so damn happy, so relieved, that something had actually gone our way for once. We all got back into the huddle with the big "MO" on our side -- with tears in my eyes, giddy from the moment, saying "I'm damn proud of you guys..."

For once, we were playing as a team, finally gelling together as one cohesive unit. It was the best feeling that we've ever had, something finally to play for. I, for one, am glad to actually finally win a game -- I'd hate it to be a first-year coach without a win to my credit.

Next week is going to interesting, where we actually start playing 100-yard games, complete with special teams. Up to this point, we only did 40-yard scrimmages. On Monday, the team splits up into two -- where we have a Pep Fest in front of the middle school, complete with team player introductions -- like something you see out of a movie. It'll be pretty cool, giving these guys something that they've worked so hard for: a little recognition.

Perspective

This weekend, Katie and I are heading back home to help celebrate my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. Nothing big, nothin' much -- just family and a big ol' dinner.

This has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks -- but it just seemed like yesterday that we were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. Then, I was a senior in the fall of '95, had a girlfriend, and other priorities were set far ahead of the wedding anniversary party at hand. Rather than watching my grandparents and my parents and many other family friends get drunk and dance the night away, I was at some gravel pit making out with my then-girlfriend in the backseat of my car.

But it's all not about that, you see. It's the fact that TEN YEARS have passed, my God. It just seems like yesterday ... it's almost WRONG that I still remember my senior year of high school so well. Maybe it's because I got a lot of it on videotape -- who knows.

I always seem to harp about the past, for some odd reason. It was the experiences, the situations, the carpe diem moments, that really made that senior year work. It was life as we knew it with The Boys: playing b-ball at The Owl Garden, doin' some audio dubbage, being creative in our writing skills, whatever.

I just cannot let it go. At the same time, it scares me that it's been already TEN YEARS. Robb's got a son, Sean's got a new baby girl, Mike just got married (as did myself) ... good grief. Those were friendships made and forged in high school and God Damn It, we're still the best of friends after all of these years.

There's another situation: when my dad got married back in 1977, his best man and himself were best of friends. Now, they rarely speak to each other -- probably due to busy schedules. It's kind of sad, seeing friends part ways because of their professions. I'm pretty determined not to let that happen in my own life, but as it's going now, we've all got a pretty solid foundation and there isn't a thing in the world that would ruin our friendships amongst each other.

Maybe that is why I got into the teaching profession. TEN YEARS after I left high school all together, I'm back as the common enemy to the students. I'm there almost like a parental figure, telling students what to do. But I'm not like that. I'm there as a guide, not really "holding anyone's hand" in their academics, preparing the upper-classpersons to be independent.

Do students today have it a lot easier than we did ten years ago? I don't know the debate on that -- but things are more accessible to students, thanks to the Internet. I remember the Internet when I was a senior -- all dial-up and most of it was text-based. If there happened to be a graphic, it took 5 minutes to load. Unbelievable.

I've told the seniors: "It's a rude awakening out there, if you go to college", because it's a total wake-up call. "Don't take after me", I say ... my South Dakotan friends could vouch for that.

There's not much difference between seniors today than seniors ten years ago. The young want to be old and the old want to be young. Simple as that. They're eager to drink, smoke, do other questionable things -- but the buzz sure wears off when you're 21 1/2 years old. Then you think back -- "what in the hell was I thinking?"

As a teacher, I hear the stories and I'm not going to stop them in their quest for independence. All I can do is give them advice and lists the risks. I guess I'm "passing along the torch" to a new generation -- a little sentimental, perhaps -- but my day is done, the sun has set.

My priorities have shifted to family, friends (still), and my career -- and that's why this upcoming weekend is going to be pretty cool. Last year I thought we were going to lose my grandmother due to an aneurysm in her brain, but with successful surgery, she's doing well.

This time, I'll be there.

MLB Playoffs '05

Eh ... I quickly lost my interest in baseball this season when the Twins started to choke sometime this past summer.

But, the playoffs are in full swing, one of the actual times during the season that I watch baseball.

AMERICAN LEAGUE:
The Boston Red Sox vs. The Chicago White Sox
The New York Yankees vs. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

NATIONAL LEAGUE:
The Houston Astros vs. The Atlanta Braves
The San Diego Padres vs. The St. Louis Cardinals

My picks?

Red Sox over the White Sox
Yankees over the Angels

• Yankees over the Red Sox for the American League pennant

Braves over the Astros
Cardinals over the Padres

• Cardinals over the Braves for the National League pennant

World Series:

• Cardinals over the Yankees

I picked the Cardinals last year to beat the Red Sox ... but we all know how that went. This year, I'm stickin' with the Cards. They've just been strong all year, especially with pitcher Chris Carpenter and the big stick of Albert Pujols.

Fantasy Football, Week 4 -- Poop

I've dropped to 0-4 in the Minnesota Yahoo! league. Again, no consistency, thanks to Mr. Culpepper. I also got screwed in playing some of my back-ups due to some bye weeks. With two of my wide outs, only one guy got one touch.

I'm already thinking I'm going to drop to 0-5 next week. I just do not know what to do to help the team improve itself -- could I pick better players, points-wise? Well, I've done that before and I get screwed over the next week, while the players I just recently dropped mop it up. It's pathetic.

In the South Dakota ESPN league, I actually won -- thanks to my opponent playing a "bye" week receiver and he actually had a couple of players that I have on my Yahoo! league. So, I pretty much stomped him. I'm now at 2-2 in the SD league.

Again, I'm still frustrated at ESPN's set-up where I cannot make any changes to my team until Wednesday. WHAT THE SHIT IS THAT.

Not A Win, Not A Loss!

Yesterday was a moral victory for our 8th grade football team yesterday, as we traveled to a small town to play in our first game in over a week. We didn't lose, but we didn't win -- we tied.

We matched up really well against the opposing team and it seems like our defense is finally starting to come around. But our offense still needs a lot of work -- maybe it's me, since I'm the offensive coordinator -- but we didn't score until our very last play of the game.

Maybe my offense is a little "advanced"; I'm running plays out of my old high school playbook, mixed in with some of the varsity plays. I've got guards and tackles pullin' all over the place, so I need a lot of speed. Lately, we've gotten better on the offensive line, but we still cannot keep our blocks during a pass play. Still, it ends up in a lot of bitchin' from our quarterback because our line doesn't block.

Sometimes I just get the feeling that the season has been over for us a long time ago -- the psyche of the kids just is not into football anymore. Some of the kids love to come out and hit somebody, but for most, they're out for the wrong reasons.

We've only got a couple of games left, including some on an actual 100-yard field (not just a 40-yard scrimmage), but we're going to play a few tough teams, so who knows how exactly our season is going to end up.