I thought it would be good to drop a note to family and friends about our upcoming football season at Thomas More College. Yes, I have returned to Northern Kentucky for another school year. When I came down here last year I really only thought it would be for a year. But I really enjoyed it, especially the things I do away from the football field. Besides coaching I am still the academic advisor for athletes, but this semester I’m also teaching two classes.
We open our football season this year with two road games. This Saturday we play at Franklin University near Indianapolis. Franklin is a DIII football power, making the DIII playoffs annually. Franklin is known not only for its football team but as the alma mater of the legendary Bob Thomas. To know Bob is to love him, just ask the many bartenders Bob has had relationships with over the years. I once witnessed Bob stumble up a hill in Italy looking for one last cocktail before closing time.
Next week we travel to Virginia to play Bridgewater College. Pretty cool traveling out of our region for a game. I’ve never been there, but on the internet Bridgewater appears to be one of those Ohio Wesleyan wanna be’s that are sprinkled across the east coast.
After that we are home for two games. You always have my invite to come to one of our home games in one of the most unique settings for DIII football. Our stadium is down in a bowl, and overlooking a portion of it is a parking lot were fans can both tailgate and watch the game. There are over 300 spaces that people pay to reserve it each year, and each year is sold out. It’s a great place to watch the game. And our fans know how to tailgate and party, I think crazy things happen when you drink bourbon for breakfast. Our complete schedule is below.
The one thing I have not been able to get use to here is the weather. For the second straight year it has been very hot and very humid. I’m waiting for fall to arrive but I’ve been told not to hold my breath. Last year it showed up for three or so days in October than winter kicked in. I know our winters suck in northern Ohio, but I’ll take the falls there anytime.
I spent most of the summer along with Dave Hostetler working on two publishing efforts. The first was helping my old Delaware, Ohio, friend Al Roop write and publish his memoirs, Al Roop’s View from the Stage. Al is a long time central Ohio musician, bar owner, limo driver, and man about town. We had a big book release event at Bun’s in Delaware last weekend and it was big fun. Lots of old friends and stories. The book started out as fourteen hours of Al’s stories spoken into a computer, and ended up with a 250 page book that includes many great pictures.
This was our second Delaware, Ohio, publishing effort. Several years ago we did the Brown Jug Restaurant Cookbook. Both Al’s book and the Jug cookbook were labors of love for me, and Dave did a great job on the interior design of both. At the Al Roop book release party my old boss Ed Wolf and I made an $800 donation to Anderson House, an outstanding Delaware, Ohio, charity, in the name of Bill Stroud who was a big part of The Brown Jug Cookbook who recently passed away. The money was the last profits from sales of the cookbook.
The other project we got going is helping my old college friend and fraternity brother Bruce Graham publish his first novel. It is really good, and hope to get it out sometime this fall.
Everything is well in the Cielec world. The last of my nieces and nephews are off to college, I can’t believe where the time has gone. Kyle’s youngest Sean is down here at the U of Cinci studying in the engineering program. Lynn’s daughter Penny is a freshmen at American University studying journalism. Larry’s two daughter s are also both doing real well, Elizabeth is a junior at Cleveland State and Alex is a sophomore at Notre Dame College. All are great kids! My sisters and my mom are the queens of happy hours in North Royalton area.
Speaking of college, my nephew Dennis is on a career path that will allow him to probably be in his mid thirties before he will ever have to get a real job. After graduationg from Columbia he joined the Marines long enough for them to pick up the tab at Stanford law school. I’m sure he has something planned after law school is over. All I know is he better not screw things up with his girlfriend or I will break one of his legs. She is definitely a keeper!
If you are near by definitely think about coming to one of our games. You are welcome to stay where I’m staying, or there are lots of cheap hotels near by.They are big fun! I hope you enjoy this note, I’ve had the aching lately to get back to more letter writing. I’m going to post this on my blog and hopefully post something every week during the football season.
