Football Weather

On Saturday afternoon as the temperature at kickoff hovered around zero at Roos Field in Cheney, someone asked a question that took a while to answer.

The person said, “Would you rather watch a game when the temperature is zero or if it was 100?”

One would think the question would be easy since it was zero and warmer weather would have been nice.

I said, “That’s easy. I would rather it was zero because I can always add a few layers to keep warm but when it is 100 it is very hard to cool down and the more clothing you take off may be lead to a bad sunburn.”

I was there cheering on the Eastern Eagles in their quest to knock off the Youngstown State Penguins. I was at Albi Stadium in Spokane in 1997 for a semi-final game when the Eagle rally came up short against the Youngstown State Penguins.

So once again I am a bit heartbroken that my EWU Eagles weren’t able to hang on with a second left in the game. Know the season ended in the most unusual way when the Penguin receiver caught the football pressed onto the EWU linebacker back.

I was holding out hope but knew that the play would not be overturned.

With one second left on the clock for the kickoff, we knew there would be the old Rugby play of the lateral pass of the ball in hopes that somebody could break clear and run for a touchdown and allow the Eagles to go to the National Championship game in Frisco, Texas.

Well, that didn’t happen and Eastern would have to settle for a top four finish this year. For those FBS fans that think the bowl games are best for college football and a playoff with the top four teams, just realize this.

The number four seeded James Madison knocked off the number one seed and five time defending champion North Dakota State and unseeded Youngstown State defeated EWU the last team to win a championship before the NDS run.

These playoffs started with 24 teams and only two have survived this tournament thus far.

There were a lot of disappointed fans on Saturday but there was no rioting or craziness in the stands or the streets.

No one screamed at the officials or the opposing team. They just knew that both teams played as hard as they could and the Penguins had one more play in them than the Eagles did.

As fans were walking up the steps to depart Roos Field you heard people say, “I’ll see you next fall.”

One Eagle fan was singing the EWU fight song as the band was playing as loudly as they could. I thought to myself, “This guy is a real fan!”

I talked with good friend Kenny G., not that one but the former EWSC Savage football player who treks over from Yelm each game day, and all he could say was, “I hate to lose!” I knew how he felt. I hate to lose, too.

I also hate the fact that Cooper Kupp played his last game without having the opportunity to play for a National Championship.

But there is a good shot that Kupp will win the Walter Payton Award for player of the year in the FCS, which he won last year. And some smart team will draft him to play on Sundays next year.

Kupp is one of those unique players that you would hope all young kids could become. Not just for his talent but being the best teammate any one of these guys will ever know. He is unselfish and brags more about how the rest of the team played before he says anything about himself.

I hope he gets the opportunity to have a long pro career because he is a Steve Largent type player that does everything precise and works harder than anyone else, which rubs off on the rest of the team.

The good news as I see it is that Head Coach Beau Baldwin will be leading the team next year and getting these guys to compete at a high level like they did this year.

I’ll be making that trek to Cheney in the fall of 2017 hoping the weather is a bit more tolerable than it was last Saturday.

You need to know that I would have had a hard time watching that game on TV last Saturday than at Roos Field. Somehow a loss is absorbed by all of the fans who attended last week’s game and for that I am grateful.

It will be fun to watch them bounce back next September. Go Eags and Merry Christmas to you all from the Worst Seat in the House!