Out with October and Football and in with November, Basketball, and Dartball

More rain rolled through overnight, after a dry weekend, at least in Western Ohio:

Friday I left Celina about 11:45 headed for Columbus to meet up with the rest of the officiating crew...we would head south another 120 miles down US 23 from there.  First off however, I had planned a stop at Flemings Sporting Goods, to look for things to spend money on before the upcoming basketball campaign, for 2011-12.  I needed a new pair of shoes, smaller Sansabelt(without needing a belt) pants, and some other supplies.  Last year I wore belted pants, because I had lost enough weight that the 38 size of the Sansabelts would not stay up.  I wanted to make sure I kept the weight off however, before investing another $50 on a smaller waist size (36).  Since I kept most of it off, I figured time for a new look for the season...and with me planning on doing basketball only for another 3 or 4 seasons, this should be the last I would have to spent on gear for that sport.  Anyway, pants, shirt, permanent shine court shoes, socks, whistle, etc, I managed to get in a package, and it only set me back $150 or so....a few preseason scrimmages and I will have that paid for.

Done at Flemings and I headed to the I-70/I-270 Waffle House on the west side of Columbus, where I grabbed a bite to eat, and waited for the rest of crew to show ...  we headed out in the rental Impala about 3pm for the 2 1/2 hour trip to the Ohio River town of Ironton.  As (bad) luck would have it, they were calling for partly cloudy skies and 45 degrees at game time...someone forgot to tell mother nature however about the front moving across the river from the southeast....by the time we drove within 40 miles of the game site, the rains began...they would last through most of the game, and then a spit or two of snow would begin to fall.


The game conditions, especially early on, were pretty miserable.  {click here to see the crew checking out the field before the game...I'm 4th from left pointing out something on the field}:

http://southernohiosportsphotos.smugmug.com/Football2011/10-28-11-Portsmouth-Ironton/19791857_7PnbvT#1555667205_CHkCTwm-XL-LB

The above link takes you to southernohiosportsphotos.com and you can view photos of the entire game there...photographer Tony Shotsky gets credit for the entire 48 pages of photos.

   A steady rain continued to fall on the ancient stadium field, it was a sea of mud and water.  Although the rain lessened, the field was not going to improve....a muddy mess throughout the Ironton 30-14 win over rival Portsmouth....the win sent the home team on to the playoffs which begin next week.  After grabbing a shower in the excellent locker room, and a bite of snack bar chili dogs, chips, and drinks, we headed out, and back towards the state capitol, listening to the Cards clinch the World Series over Texas in the deciding 7th game....Damn!

We arrived back at the Waffle House at 12:30, and I fired up the Nitro, arriving home, after hitting a hawk, and just missing a buck deer, on the way, at 2:30 Saturday morning....I downed a couple of beers and hit the sack at 4, sleeping in until 10am.  Saturday afternoon, I finished my portion of the football season, working the Youth League Super Bowl double header....I have now packed the football stuff away, and will try to rest up my back, legs, and aging 62 year old body, for a few weeks....my first basketball scrimmage is set for November 15th.


The rest of the weekend was spent, not officiating, but watching football....and cutting down the last of the seasons Sunflowers.

Saturday night, I arrived home just before half time of the Ohio State/Wisconsin game...down 7-3 at the half, The Buckeyes survived 2 late Badger touchdowns, by scoring one of their own with 20 seconds left to pull off the 33-29 upset....a nice touch to a so far dismal {at least in Buckeye terms} season.   Winning over Wisconsin is a plus....despite living there, having a wife from there, and and Annissa born there, I dislike the Wisconsin Badgers with a passion.  A far left wing university, with some of the worst fans in the Big Ten(right down there with Penn State)...not much to like about UW-Madison.

Sunday the Bengals continued their surprising season...knocking off Seattle on the road by a 34-12 score....Cincinnati, who some thought would win zero games this season, the Bengals now sit at 5 wins 2 loses, and are tied with Baltimore, just a half game behind the 6-2 Steelers.

So that was it....out with my football schedule, a rest before basketball.  Dartball practice does begin tonight, with the regular season set for next Monday night....frankly I'm looking forward to the 2 week rest....but not forward to the long winter ahead.

back later>>>>

Photos and links:

Top, the view about 90 minutes before game time....and a shot of my shoes at half time...they would only get worse...  The new permanent shoes I purchased from Flemings for basketball...no need to worry about mud and the outside elements for these.  A view of the Ironton Stadium, on a much nicer day.   Originally "Tank" Stadium, used by the Semi-Professional Ironton Tanks, the stands were built in 1926:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironton_Tanks