Postseason football, 2021 style
At least one area football team is doing well! Alas, it's not the Bears--who didn't win so much as didn't lose on Thursday against the 0-10-1 Lions--but at least it's the Cardinals! They're back in the playoffs again, looking to defend their national title. They were supposed to play in the first round last week, but their opponent, Carnegie-Mellon, had 9 players come down with covid. It was ruled a no-contest. That was a huge bummer; I know the team would rather move on fair and square. And, well, I'm always curious to see how these other teams rate against the Cards, who've demolished their opponents this year. The last regular-season game was won by like 84-6. Ouch.
Today's team: The UW-LaCrosse Eagles. Birds against birds. I'd wanted to go last week, especially since the weather was beautiful, but this week worked, too, and I didn't have my birthday to contend with, either. I've never been to a playoff game before so I wanted to experience that. It started at noon, so I was out of the house shortly after 11; thank goodness grocery shopping went quickly. I'm not sure I have another one in me but everyone's gunning for us, so you never know if they'll get another week. It was raining lightly when I left, and in the upper 30s, but it stopped by the time I parked and the sun came out by the end of the game--and I think I got sunburned, actually, on what little part of my face was visible. The woodwinds didn't even have their instruments out for the first quarter due to the weather; they shouldn't get wet.
You could tell things were a little different compared to a regular-season game. There were all these blue banners all over the place for NCAA Division III, though none of them said anything about the playoffs, which seemed odd. There were signs that said "no outside noisemakers" (rats, no vuvuzelas) and also said that no passes were allowed; everyone had to pay for their tickets, which were $10 for adults, as opposed to $8 for a regular game. The big tent where the Quarterback Club hosts people, behind the north end zone, was gone; I said to Dr. K, I don't think I've ever seen that part of the field empty before! The rest of it was pretty typical. I was surprised when the band went and performed their halftime show; I didn't think they did that during playoff games. Dr. K said they hadn't done it before because they didn't have the bodies to do so, and truthfully a number of people were gone today that he didn't know about, but this was their first time doing a show during the playoffs. Historic. In fact, they were the *only* performance during halftime. No dancers, no cheerleaders, and UW-L hadn't brought a band. They did have a bunch of fans and filled the three main visitor sets of bleachers, plus three smaller sets, plus had people standing at the fence. And, there was one lone guy in the section next to the band who was the only one yelling stuff out to encourage the other team. That was kind of amusing.
The stands were pretty full. In fact, there were several rows of people sitting in the front part of the band's section; at halftime, some of them came over to talk to Dr. K--they were recent alums. Aha, I've started a trend. However, they had to stay out in the cold. The band was outside for the first half, but after the halftime show, one of the drum majors asked if the band should go inside to warm up during the 3rd quarter and Dr. K agreed, then asked if I wanted to go inside too. Uh, sure! They take over the second level during games so some of them were in classrooms and some were in this lobby area. I went to use the bathroom and got an unusual surprise--a sign saying the room was reserved for NCAA drug testing of the visiting team between 2:30-4:30. I made sure to check my watch; it was one-something, phew. Some of the Fancy Band guys I'd talked to after last rehearsal were there so I talked with them a little, and there was one guy who went and changed slightly--he had to keep the band bottoms on, which are sort of like overalls--and the band members went, are you wearing a button-down shirt? The guy went, yeah, I'm going to a Doctor Who convention in Lombard straight from here, so I want to be able to take off my uniform and go! ...The other band members were kind of impressed with that. It was nice to get out of the cold, too, even if I mostly just stood around against the wall.
I think the score was 20-7 at the half; when we came back at the end of the 3rd quarter, it was 20-10. The Eagles got within 7 at one point, but we had 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter, and nearly had another touchdown that got negated (while the band was playing the fight song, which they play when the Cards score, oops--there were a couple times they wished they had a rewind button), and we won 34-20. On to the third round! The bummer for me was learning that Wheaton, our rivals, got ousted in their game, 30-28. They were in the other side of the bracket and it would've been amazing had they both made it to the finals. Alas, it was not to be--for them. We're still going, and this was likely the first opponent they had all year that made a game of it. There's a reason the Cards are ranked number one in the nation, which means everyone's gunning for us.
Today's team: The UW-LaCrosse Eagles. Birds against birds. I'd wanted to go last week, especially since the weather was beautiful, but this week worked, too, and I didn't have my birthday to contend with, either. I've never been to a playoff game before so I wanted to experience that. It started at noon, so I was out of the house shortly after 11; thank goodness grocery shopping went quickly. I'm not sure I have another one in me but everyone's gunning for us, so you never know if they'll get another week. It was raining lightly when I left, and in the upper 30s, but it stopped by the time I parked and the sun came out by the end of the game--and I think I got sunburned, actually, on what little part of my face was visible. The woodwinds didn't even have their instruments out for the first quarter due to the weather; they shouldn't get wet.
You could tell things were a little different compared to a regular-season game. There were all these blue banners all over the place for NCAA Division III, though none of them said anything about the playoffs, which seemed odd. There were signs that said "no outside noisemakers" (rats, no vuvuzelas) and also said that no passes were allowed; everyone had to pay for their tickets, which were $10 for adults, as opposed to $8 for a regular game. The big tent where the Quarterback Club hosts people, behind the north end zone, was gone; I said to Dr. K, I don't think I've ever seen that part of the field empty before! The rest of it was pretty typical. I was surprised when the band went and performed their halftime show; I didn't think they did that during playoff games. Dr. K said they hadn't done it before because they didn't have the bodies to do so, and truthfully a number of people were gone today that he didn't know about, but this was their first time doing a show during the playoffs. Historic. In fact, they were the *only* performance during halftime. No dancers, no cheerleaders, and UW-L hadn't brought a band. They did have a bunch of fans and filled the three main visitor sets of bleachers, plus three smaller sets, plus had people standing at the fence. And, there was one lone guy in the section next to the band who was the only one yelling stuff out to encourage the other team. That was kind of amusing.
The stands were pretty full. In fact, there were several rows of people sitting in the front part of the band's section; at halftime, some of them came over to talk to Dr. K--they were recent alums. Aha, I've started a trend. However, they had to stay out in the cold. The band was outside for the first half, but after the halftime show, one of the drum majors asked if the band should go inside to warm up during the 3rd quarter and Dr. K agreed, then asked if I wanted to go inside too. Uh, sure! They take over the second level during games so some of them were in classrooms and some were in this lobby area. I went to use the bathroom and got an unusual surprise--a sign saying the room was reserved for NCAA drug testing of the visiting team between 2:30-4:30. I made sure to check my watch; it was one-something, phew. Some of the Fancy Band guys I'd talked to after last rehearsal were there so I talked with them a little, and there was one guy who went and changed slightly--he had to keep the band bottoms on, which are sort of like overalls--and the band members went, are you wearing a button-down shirt? The guy went, yeah, I'm going to a Doctor Who convention in Lombard straight from here, so I want to be able to take off my uniform and go! ...The other band members were kind of impressed with that. It was nice to get out of the cold, too, even if I mostly just stood around against the wall.
I think the score was 20-7 at the half; when we came back at the end of the 3rd quarter, it was 20-10. The Eagles got within 7 at one point, but we had 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter, and nearly had another touchdown that got negated (while the band was playing the fight song, which they play when the Cards score, oops--there were a couple times they wished they had a rewind button), and we won 34-20. On to the third round! The bummer for me was learning that Wheaton, our rivals, got ousted in their game, 30-28. They were in the other side of the bracket and it would've been amazing had they both made it to the finals. Alas, it was not to be--for them. We're still going, and this was likely the first opponent they had all year that made a game of it. There's a reason the Cards are ranked number one in the nation, which means everyone's gunning for us.