Friday, September 8, 2017

Franklin College at Thomas More 2 September 2017

OK,OK, I’ve been a little behind on blogging the football season so far, but I promise I’ll get caught up. I have a lot of things I want to get down on paper. But first things first…

We won our opener last week against Franklin College 47-37. It was a big game for us for several reasons: they beat us last year; they are very good and probably will win their conference; and there is a chance we will play then again in the playoffs.
I had a good crowd of family and friends at the game including both of my sisters, my brother in law Bob, and my good friends Dave Hostetler and Bob Thomas. Bob is a Franklin grad, and came up from Florida for the game (and a week or so of partying in both Indiana and northern Ohio). Check out the official game story on the TMC athletic department website at www.tmcsaints.com/football.

The weather was shaky and a lot of our students were off celebrating the Labor Day weekend, but we still had a great crowd for the game. Franklin isn’t that far away and travels well, and Thomas More is one of the best, if not the best, tailgate venues in DIII. I’ve coached in four different DIII conferences and have not seen a tailgate atmosphere like we have at TMC.  Our stadium is down in a bowl and we have a tiered parking lot that over looks a portion of the field. There are 300 spots that sell out each year, and fans can tailgate and watch the game from the same spot. And our fans come early with tents and RVs and grills and, of course, coolers of adult beverages. And we get a great mix of alums, parents, students, faculty, and people from the area at our games. Northern Kentucky really supports TMC sports.

In their tailgating revelries my family had a major snafu, they forgot a cooler of cold ones. When I got up to our tailgating spot I had to go across the aisle to one of my coaching colleague’s tailgate to find a cold one. This was the first game without my dear departed Mom, and she was definitely missed. And I know there would’ve been a cooler of beverages if she were still around…