The trip to Cape Girardeau

I received the coolest text I have ever received this morning at about quarter to three. My friend Allan sent me a message telling me his plans for the day. Ok, that's underselling it. The test informed me that he was a couple thousand feet from the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and he planned to finish the climb the next day. Amazing. Scaling the highest mountain of a continent is something that I have no plans to ever do, but that doesn't mean I don't bear a great deal of respect for those that do. Heck, I'm just jealous that he got to go to Africa.
Anyways, I got back from Cape Girardeau, Missouri on Sunday after a fun weekend on the road. I promised you some stories, observations and side notes from the trip. I wish I could have more details on the trip to Tanzania my friend made, but you'll have to settle for this.
- The Friday night before the game, since I arrived the day before, I went to the Outback next door to pick up some dinner. As I was waiting for it I noticed that the Murray State team was enjoying their dinner mere feet from me. I thought this was odd. Never mind the statistical improbability that I would come across the team at the restaurant right door to my hotel in a town of 35k with plenty of other dining options. No, I thought it was weird that they were in town, when their game was the next day at quarter to 8, and the drive was only 2 hours or so. The only explanation I could come up with was that they traveled with the women's team, which was playing the game before them. I guess. Either that or Murray State is flush with cash.
- Before the game I went to the campus to scout for merchandise and, of course, tickets. The ticket office was closed, and a trip around campus revealed that the bookstore was closed. I understand. What student has free time to shop on a Saturday. I went to the mall, then, in CG in order to kill some time, find some apparel and find dinner. While looking I found a Jared Allen Kansas City Chiefs jersey for 20 dollars. A bargain! I also found the most terrifying thing I've ever seen, the "Parakeet Jungle". It's basically a large parakeet enclosure that kids can go in and be with the birds. Spend a dollar, scar your kids for life!
- Speaking of the walk around campus, there was a couple of Indian dudes walking around taking pictures too. It struck me how odd I must seem as a tourist walking around SEMOST when I saw OTHER tourists walking around SEMOST.
- OK, on to the game. I was close enough that my view was obstructed when the cheerleaders stood up.
- Between the two teams, there was on white guy, Eric McCrary for SE Missouri. He was definitely the "energy' guy. He would not shut up on the bench, and was always the first on his feet screaming. He was certainly more valuable there than he was on the court. He was slow, had band hands and was a worse shot. But he made up for it by being annoying as hell.
- Murray State reminded me of a Big Ten team. They relied on their inside game and strong defense. They aren;t your classic tournament upset-special, because that tends to be a strong outside shooting team. Playing to their strengths, they don't have enough size to play inside with the other big teams. If they do make a splash in the post season, they will have to do it by playing aggressive defense.
- Fun facts about the coach: His name is Dickey Nutt, and he is the brother of Ole Miss football coach Houston Nutt. He
- I struck up a conversation with the gentleman behind me. He immediately recognized that I was not from the area, what with my accent and all. That was a peculiar sensation. We talked about my being a meteorologist, then he asked me what I thought of the Farmer's Almanac. Yep.
- I have never heard the Cupid Shuffle outside of a bar before, but it had regular radio rotation in Cape Girardeau. It was the soundtrack to an imaginary high speed chase I underwent. There was some truck that followed me around for a little while. Haunting.
- It was the mascots birthday. He wore a tux and had a cake, then they handed out awful looking t-shirts. It was really a special day for all of us. After the game, I went to Steak 'n' Shake and had some celebratory ice cream.

It was probably the best of my trips, simply because there was no hassle, and I was able to see some of the town as I was there. If things work out this well during my next trip (hopefully to Colorado State), I will be greatly pleased.

I'll get this out of the way quick.

Game over in Cape Girardeau. I thought I would give you the lowdown on the game really quick. Tomorrow and Monday will be for the football, whatever happens. Tuesday I'll give a more thorough summary of the trip.
The game itself was closer than the 80-61 would indicate. There was really only one big stretch that the Racers really took the RedHawks behind the woodshed. After 8 minutes of Southeast hitting almost everything they threw at the basket, and Racers star forward Ivan Aska on the bench with early foil trouble, they took the lead. Then the Racers went on a bit of a run.
A 30-4 run.
The Redhawls and Sam Pearson especially took a lot of mid-range jumpers, and when they stopped going down, the bigger, more athletic Murray State team started grabbing rebounds and working the ball inside on their own offensive end. The less athletic Redhawks started moving with their hands and not their feet, fouling Racers often and sending them to the line.
After the run, however, the game was almost even. The difference for the rest of the game was a 1 point advantage for the Racers. The damage was already done, however and the Racers continue unbeaten in the OVC.
More notes and a deeper trip summary later this week. With pictures!

Thank goodness I'm heading south

I was a little disgusted yesterday as the Vikings ran up the score on the Cowboys. It would have been one thing if they had scored while trying to run out the clock, or scored with the backups in, but it wasn't cool that they did it while their starters were still in, passing three times, including going for it twice on 4th down. I have enough of a problem with bad sportsmanship, but I had a greater problem with the people who DON'T have a problem with the way the Vikings carried themselves at the end of the game.
The two responses I heard were that A) The Cowboys are professional athletes and B) they are the Cowboys, so somehow they deserve it. Well, the Vikings are professionals too, so they should be better at showing respect to their fellow professionals, especially when this group of Vikings should have no ill will towards this current group of Cowboys. And that's the other thing. This group of Cowboys has been a listless band of players who haven't accomplished anything, nor have the been bombastic in their self congratulation, or outwardly arrogant, not any more than any other NFL team. Other than the owner, this group of player has been downright likeable. Why should they be punished for the sins of Michael Irvin and Charles Haley?
And if you weren't instilled with the same values of sportsmanship, I was, there isn't much I can do, except get upset, at which point you would call me old fashioned or a whiner, and I'll continue to think you are classless where it comes to sports
The worst I heard involved a Vikings fan taunting a Bears fan because his team was still in the playoffs, and the Bears fan was dying. I don't care who you are, that's disgusting. OF course, the taunter didn't think so, and of course, I had nothing to do but get mad at how despicable some people can be. I don't understand how these games can turn people so ugly.
And that, in a nutshell, is why I take my road trips. It's nice to get away for a while, but also it's nice to go to a game simply to enjoy a game. Next weekend, I'll be on my way to Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, Missouri to watch them take on Murray State. Having no affiliation with either school, I can simply enjoy the game.
This might be the first game I go to that the road team wins. Murray State is a very good team, having only 3 losses on the season, at California, Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky, programs that are clearly more elite than their typical OVC opponents. In fact, Murray State is 8-0 in their conference schedule thus far. The Racers feature a young team, and may well be a force to be reckoned with on a national level in years to come.
Contrast that with SE Missouri State. The Redhawks draw much of their roster from local community colleges and are generally juniors or seniors. Three of their 7 total wins on the season have come against non Division 1 opponents. If they have one shining star, it's that their coach's name is Dickey Nutt. That's pretty awesome.
I just got a GPS to take with me for the trip. I've been playing with it and it's been way too much fun so far. That's what I need this weekend. I need to have some fun with my sports.

Taking a break from the Twins and Vikings....

If you have paid attention to this site, you know that I do something weird every year, and take a trip to see a game that I select totally at random. For an entire recap of everything, here is a look at the "travel" tag. The condensed version is that I started this about 4 years ago and selected basketball games between Valparaiso and Missouri-Kansas City and a contest between St. Bonaventure and Temple. It was just whimsy at the time, and I didn't go, but I did keep track of the games online. The next year, I promised myself I would go, and I did. These were games between the Denver Pioneers and Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in monroe, Louisiana and another battle between the Jackson State Tigers and Alabama State Hornets. They were so much fun, and such interesting experiences that I made sure I would do it again every year in the future.
So last year, exactly a year ago today, actually, always on my half birthday (I also go to the Twins game on my birthday, so that's why I do that. It still doesn't make sense, I guess), I picked the teams for 2009, the Illinois-Chicago Flames basketball team and the Arkansas State Red Wolves football team. It took a little while to figure out the exact games, because schedules weren't released yet (I pick the game number on the schedule at random as well). I knew I would be going to game #10 for UIC and game #11 for Arkansas State.
Eventually, the schedules did come out, and I was able to determine where I was going. In November, I will travel to Jonesboro, Arkansas to see Arkansas State take on the North Texas Mean Greenand in December, 2 days before Christmas, I will see UIC take on the Akron Zips in Akron.
So despite the fact that I have those two games still on the schedule, today was my day to select games for next year. The first game was a basketball game that will come early enough in the year that I already can determine who is playing, when it is and where it will be played. The team I picked was the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks basketball team, and their 21st game of the season. This will be played at home in Cape Girardeau on January 23rd against the Murray State Racers.


Look at the intensity in those eyes! This is an Ohio Valley conference game, my first with this particular conference. Murray State comes from Murray, Kentucky, which is just across the Mississippi from Cape Girardeau. This is the second game that has been selected in the state of Missouri. Also, on the way from Montgomery back home to Minnesota, I spent the night in Cape Girardeau. Also, the city is a mere 150 miles from Jonesboro, my destination next month. It's interesting how all these trips are running together.
The second game on the docket is another college football contest, marking the second in this now 4 year adventure. The team is Mountain West conference stalwart, the Colorado State Rams.
The game selected was their 10th. This year, that is a road game at UNLV, however the schedule for 2010 will not be out until the Spring. If we extrapolate, then that could mean a home game against UNLV (or any of the other Mountain West home games next year) or they could be on the road. The Rams' road games next year are at Utah, San Diego State, Wyoming and Air Force. For reference, the home games are the aforementioned UNLV, TCU, BYU and New Mexico. Colorado State is the second team from Colorado that has been selected, the first being the Denver Pioneers. Their game ended up being a road game as mentioned, in Louisiana.
OK, that's enough out of me. I'm terribly excited and hope you are as interested by this little excersize as I am. If not, too bad. I'm going to keep doing this. In the mean time, go Twins!