My Six Painful Games

Last weekend was my long weekend of 6 games in 3 days, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, or as I like to call it "The Hills Have Eyes Town". THANKFULLY Tony and Kimball came along to keep me company. The day was off to an early and not so good start as we tried to leave around 6:00 a.m. Little did I know that Leaving my lights on for 5 minutes would completely drain my battery, and Tony had to jump my car from the get go. We made it to Evanston with no trouble, and decided to eat breakfast and switch drivers there. I have to say... it was the NICEST McDonald's I have ever been in. Even the bathrooms had flat screen TVs, and it was a really clean establishment. Kimball liked the saddle chairs and pretended he was riding a bronco.

Unfortunately, my car battery had not recharged at all, and we required ANOTHER jump in Evanston. When we got to Rock Springs, Tony dropped me off at the field, and was kind enough to take my car to Wal-Mart to get a new battery.

It was a long day, but I got half my ref load over with. 3 games in one day, and I managed to get under one of the players skin from Western Wyoming Community College Men's Team. If you're gonna talk smack, I'm gonna put you in your place, that's all I'm gonna say.

We ate dinner, and Tony and I turned into big nerds as we sat in the room on our computers, as poor Kimball had to find his own entertainment, which was setting up a trap on the chain lock to the door.

Saturday was almost as painful, but not quite as bad since we only had 2 games to ref. Afterward, we went to the park and played with Kimball. He said that was his favorite part of the whole trip.

Luckily that night we went out to eat at Applebee's as my poor stomach couldn't take anymore fast food. I'm not used to eating at fast food restaurants, and it was starting to create some serious "family problems". When we got back to our room, Tony had a "brilliant" idea of getting Kimball all wired up on sugar so he'd crash hard and go to sleep early. Not only did Tony's plan backfire, but it seemed to create a bit of rage with Kimball. It was hilarious at times, though, and it brought about Kimball's funniest quote of the trip.

Tony: "Hey Kimball, do you wanna go swimming?"

Kimball: "IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"

It was actually only 10:00, but I'm sure it felt like the middle of the night. Tony ended up taking Kimball out for a quick jog outside, cause the kid couldn't sit still.

Kimball watching "The Iron Giant"

Sunday there was only one game left, and of course, it was freezing and the storm decided to hit right at game time. Now I normally DON'T do this, which is wear pants when I ref, but I was just a linesman, and it was not worth it to freeze. I put my windbreaker AND my jacket underneath my uniform, and I'm sure I looked like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man, but I did not care. It was fun to have Kimball run up and down the field with me for a little bit, until the snow REALLY started coming down. I had to have my back to the field at times, because the wind was blowing the snow hard in my face and it HURT. When halftime came, the Wyoming team didn't want to play anymore, so we got to leave. WAHOO!!!

I don't think I want to go back next year.