Real Sports Talk with E$

This one, this right here, might be the column of columns that I’ve ever had. Since I wrote my last column, which really feels like forever ago, a lot has happened.

Chances are, when you were reading the last issue of The Clock, I was skiing over at Whiteface Mountain with two of my really good friends in Chris Harle and Matt Cann. It was the first time that I’ve ever skied at that mountain, and it was one hell of an awesome experience that I was able to spend with those two. The reason as to why we were over there was due to the fact that we were on our way to a weather conference (called Northeastern Storm Conference) in Saratoga Springs, New York. At the conference, I was able to interact with Jim Cantore, who is basically the “whose who” within the meteorology and weather world. The guy was awesome, and I was able to see my friends interact with him. Chris was on a first-name basis with him by the end of the weekend, and even bought Cantore a beer and a shot at a bar in Saratoga, which was funny as hell and awesome at the same time.

While all of that was going on, I watched the Men’s hockey team at Plymouth capture their second MASCAC championship, and no one was prouder of that whole entire program. Whether it be Phil Arnone, Tyler Carson, Tieg Alward, Kyle Brumfield, Craig Russell or Dan Dupell, I was unbelievably ecstatic and happy to see them climb over the hump, and capture the title that they set out to be their goal a year ago. Some people on campus might think that they are a bunch of air heads with massive egos, but I can tell you for a fact that there isn’t another group on campus that is just all-around awesome. I was watching them beat Salem State, who is a hell of a program within itself, while physically being at the banquet dinner at the conference. While the dinner was going on, I was watching the game on my phone, literally holding in my excitement for the BICE as the game progressed on. Upon the victory, and the dinner banquet being over, I went back into my hotel room and just yelled for them because of the accomplishment they were able to achieve. It might sound cheesy as hell that I did that, but I really was so proud of them.

Fast-forward to the week before Spring Break occurred, and not a whole hell of a lot happened (at least, that I can think of off the top of my head). Roll around to the Friday, which was the last day of classes prior to Spring Break, I went to the ice arena to wish the BICE good luck against Norwich, and I truthfully believed that they would win the game. They took off for their game the following day, so I just kicked it with my roommate Tommy Silva for the Friday night.

As Saturday rolled around, I eventually got on to a plane with the women’s lacrosse team, as we traveled over to the West Coast, and California. The flight, of course, was during the time of the Plymouth/Norwich game, and I was unable to watch it. As the plane was starting to land, I was updating my phone literally every two seconds, trying to find out how the game went (it was approximately 1:00 A.M. EST by this point, so the game was over). Upon seeing that Plymouth lost 3-2, I felt bad for the team, but had a number of people text me saying how proud I would have been of them based on their gritty, tough, rugged performance. Knowing that these people were being honest with me, I knew that their season was over, and turned to Kristin Tracy (Women’s lacrosse Head Coach for those of you that are clueless), and told her “well, it’s officially lacrosse season.”

Being the only male of 27 women out in the Golden State might sound like any man’s dream, but honestly, and I can say it now, I was dreading the trip. Having to put up with that many women can be quite overwhelming. What I soon figured out is that being with the group would be the least of my problems, as Alamo car rental was quickly #1 on my shit list. There were three 15-person vans reserved for us, and long story short, we weren’t able to get two of them. As the chaos of that started to calm down, and we drove to the hotel in the greater Anaheim area, I was quickly able to see that the group of girls that were in my van were extremely excited to be the hell outta the cold in Plymouth, and genuinely thrilled to be on Spring Break. That moment, right there, changed my perception of this trip.

After telling a group of football kids to politely “leave” the practice field that the team had reserved, I was looked at as being “the man” for clearing the few assholes out of the field. Despite getting a full practice in, the results weren’t able to show for that first game in Cali, as Chapman (University?) smoked PSU 18-5.

The next day, which was Tuesday, 3/17, I saw a team and a program come together upon facing a number of obstacles throughout what was suppose to be a fun day. After a morning practice, Coach Tracy told the team that we would be going to a Price is Right taping that day (which I had known about). Aside from being happy that Coach utilized an idea that I had told her back in December, I was hopeful that I would be picked for the show (you can see the shirt I came up within this article).

Well, we got in line to get inside of the building for the taping, only to find out that we weren’t allowed to have open-toed shoes, or backpacks. About half the team had backpacks, and I was the only one in sneakers. A number of the players ran back to the respective vans to get sneakers, and a few even bought new pairs of sneakers to save some time. To watch everyone work as a team, and help each other out as they were running around to the parking garages was chaotic, but cool to see everyone helping each other out.

We eventually got inside of the studio (which is much smaller than you would think), and everyone was “letting their freak-flag fly.” When music would play, people would dance (including myself, which was a site to see), and everyone was having a hell of a fun time. As the taping progressed on, it didn’t seem like anyone would get on to the show until Coach was chosen to be a contestant. Despite not getting her guess correct on some sort of fancy GPS/Bluetooth/radio/$1049 thing, everyone was ecstatic for Coach. Upon the show ending, there was a drawing of everyone who hadn’t been picked yet, and the person that got picked would win $100. After they called the number of the person, the winner was Senior captain Rachel Fistori, who couldn’t have been a better choice. The team really rallied around the day’s events happening, and looked to capture a win against a team that Coach stated, “would be the best opponent of the season.”
Well, the team was told to go out and have fun, and that’s exactly what they did! A 10-7 victory for Plymouth against Claremont Mudd-Scripps was one of the top two games I’ve seen at Plymouth so far this season, as it was an intense environment, and an awesome game.

Without drawing this column out longer than I already will, the team ended up pulling off a 13-12 double overtime win in their last game in California against Occidental (College?). It was another awesome game to watch. We eventually jumped on a plane on Sunday (3/22) afternoon, and returned to Plymouth at about midnight on Sunday night. The trip was one hell of an adventure, and ended up being the exact opposite of what I had anticipated, in that it was a great eight-day span.

In other Irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news:

-The Golden State Warriors are absolutely just getting it done.

-Crazy how some of the NFL free agent moves have panned out, and also interesting to see how some teams might let their quarterbacks become free agents next off-season (Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, Russell Wilson)

-Chris St. George aka “Turkey” is having one hell of a season for the men’s lacrosse team. Keep it up, man.

-Fining NFL teams is an absolute joke. With the amount of money that these teams make every year, $500,000 is NOTHING to them.

-The AFC East is going to be one hell of a strong division this season.

-In something that I think went under the radar, interesting to see San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland retire due to the potential of getting seriously hurt and effecting his future. Borland walked away from the NFL after doing research, and seeing what the potential damage could be done to his body.

Non-Sports Information of the Week:

Rant of the Week- Pretty minor this week, but it sucks that I’m/we are limited to only four tickets for graduation. Pretty disappointed in the school that they aren’t able to do better than that, but I’m sure they will be quick to ask for donations.

-Don’t rent a car through Alamo. In short, they aren’t “cool beans”

-Do fly through JetBlue. They have televisions in the headrests, and you have like 40 channels of DirecTV that you are able to watch for “free” (you pay for the physical flight, so it isn’t free, but it is).     

-Pisses me off when people don’t e-mail me back that I want to have them featured in sports. Do people seriously not check their e-mail at least once over a three day span?

-Not sure how I feel about Sammy Adams coming for Spring Fling, as I know none of his music.

-While I was in California, I saw one of the school’s newspapers, and of course checked out the sports section. Of course, I laughed when I compared it to my own sports section, as I think it is pretty good. When I inherited the sports section at The Clock, it, quite frankly, was garbage. I’m damn proud as to where I am leaving it come May

-Currently in the process of organizing a trip to Las Vegas with Matt, Tyler Cote, and one of Matt’s friends from home. Stay tuned.

-I wonder how many people are going to be pissed to find out that stories within this issue are fake for April Fools. I still think the idea behind it is stupid, but at least the general idea of it is much better now.

-Can’t wait for the new Fast & Furious movie to come out.

 Real Talk with Eric- GRIND. Get Ready, It’s a New Day.

‘Til the next time I write this, I’m outta here…..