Snow Bowl 2003

Tuesday February 18th, 2003

Here (on the left) is a picture of my backyard patio. It's a nice place in the Spring, Summer, and Fall to eat a snack, have a drink, or relax with friends. However, the days of Summer are long gone and so are the times when I could actually see the concrete floor of my patio. Over the past week in Ohio snow has poured from the heavens with reckless abandon and now I'd have to wade through snow that comes up to my knees in order to reach my patio table (pictured below).


The weather is cold and the snow and ice make driving conditions less than desirable. So most people in Ohio are playing things safe and smart, by staying indoors by a warm fire with a warm mug of hot chocolate cradled in their hands. However, my friends and I are not the sort of people who do safe or smart things. So when we saw mounds and mounds of snow being blown about by an unforgivingly frigid wind, we thought it was a perfect night for some Football [American Football I mean, playing Soccer would have been hard with the ball completely covered by snow]. And thus Snow Bowl 2003 was underway. [Look at the picture to the left and try to find my feet, I bet you can't! And that's me standing in the "shallow end" of the field].

Now what kind of gladiators of the gridiron would play this inhumane game? Who would have the courage, grit, and determination [not to mention the proper portion of stupidity] to get their body submerged in snow every time they got tackled?

Well look to the left (Kevin) and to the right (Bob) of this sentence to find out. Along with myself (pictured below) and Seven (whom came out too late for me to take a photo of).

These are the kind of men other men aspire to be. Warriors who play through the hurt and whose threshold for pain is beyond measuring.

Yes a fearsome lot, who would not be denied their sport by anything as lowly as Mother Nature. These young stallions went out to play to their hearts content...

...their hearts quickly became content and their breathing erratic after about 10 minutes of play. It was so difficult to run in the snow that they had to take a breathing break after every other play. And the game ended in a 7 to 7 tie after only a total of about 20 plays had been run.

Courage and determination? Perhaps. Intelligence and endurance? Not a chance.