The sea was angry that day, my friends...

















Despite the unusually cold weather yesterday, my brother and I did something we had been longing to do for quite some time. Attend a football game at our alma mater! You see, Rhodes is in the Senate Athletic League and because it's a city school (meaning they don't have lights), they rarely play the Saturday home game. Most of their league games start at 3:00 on Fridays. And as Michael Stanley sang last night (another story), "Folks like us, we gotta work...", so it's really not conducive to attending these games.

As a matter of fact, it was the first time I had been back on campus since I left. I mean, when I was there, we didn't even call it a campus. We called it "school".

Anyhow, it turned out to be a blast. Not exactly a huge throng in attendance. The opponents were the Braves of Berea. They've been on hard times lately, as they only had one win in 2009. Against? You got it, the Rhodes Rams. Berea opened the season getting rolled by John Hay and Rhodes shut out neighborhood rival, Brooklyn, in their opener by a score of 27-0. So, an intriguing matchup ensued for the 1:00 Saturday start.

After getting wanded and frisked, we take our seats. The first thought that enters your mind is Rhodes doesn't have a lot of players. As a matter of fact, they suited up only 25 guys. Uh-oh. My pre-game speech involved the old, "Not the size of the man in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the man..." and other such nonsense.

















The second thing you notice is the Berea band's front line has more people than our football team. Rhodes doesn't have a band. They have something called a drum line. Maybe 5 drums, 3 cymbals and some brass only heard on the National Anthem. No uniforms.

















The vaunted Rhodes offense goes on the attack.

















I'm not sure why this happened, but on a 4th-and-1 from their own 31, the Rhodes coach decides to go for it. WTF? They hand off the ball to Justin Sangster and he goes 69 yards for a touchdown. Again, WTF? Rhodes has no kicker (isn't their a local mule anywhere?), so they miss the conversion. Then, weird shit started happening all over. Berea is driving on the ground and decides to throw their first pass. But Rhodes intercepts and Lorenzo Walls runs it back 72 yards for a touchdown! Two huge plays before the locals even realize there is a game today. Next possession for Rhodes, Sangster rips off a 43-yarder for TD. WTF, indeed! Visions of The Greatest Show On Turf are dancing through everyone's heads after this score.

















But, wait. There are still three more quarters of football left. Berea scores a TD. Then Walls rips off another huge play for Rhodes with a 51-yarder for a score. Berea decides they are just going to pound the ball up the middle. It works against an outmanned team and Rhodes starts getting pushed around on defense, for a 26-13 halftime score. This continues into the third quarter, as Berea scores another TD on a 19-yard run.

















So, as the game wears on, Rhodes is doing absolutely nothing on offense. The defense has been pushed around for almost two straight quarters. Berea is driving again. They threw their second pass of the game and the QB hit a wide-open guy right in the hands and he dropped it. An omen, perhaps? Quite possibly, as they tried to hit a pass near the goal line on a 4th down play. Working the tip drill to perfection, LeKeith Harper grabs the ball and runs 103 yards for the interception return! 103 effin' yards! It was unbelievable! Berea has now thrown 3 passes and two of them have been intercepted and returned for TDs. Breathing room returns, as they got the 2-point conversion.

















The Rhodes defense continues to be a sieve and Berea scores another TD in the 4th quarter. Less than 8 minutes remain and Rhodes is once more, hanging on.

















Look out for that man Sangster again. In another bit of go-for-it-in-your-own-territory-on-4th-down insanity, he goes around end for 59 yards! Rhodes is a huge play machine today. The score is now 40-27, with just over 6 minutes to go. Come on, clock!

















Berea scores with only a short amount of time left. Rhodes recovers the onside kick and secures the victory. In an absolutely wild game, the final has Rhodes beating Berea, 40-34.



















As I said, it was loads of fun to go the game and to watch such a mind-blower was the cherry on top. But I gotta mention the refs. I know it's tough to find people willing to ref and you're gonna get a mixed bag. But the refs yesterday were too old and out of shape to be refereeing. The speed, even at the high school level, is just too much.

I saw a guy spot a ball with his foot wedge, because he could not bend down. He also tossed a ball for another guy to spot by underhanding a ball directly into the Rhodes defensive huddle. Same guy hadn't called one holding penalty all day. Then when Rhodes is trying to put the game away, up by 13, he calls holding on two successive plays, one nullifying a game clinching first down.

They never called for a tee after a Rhodes TD. The kicker just dug a divot on the 40 and kicked that way the rest of the game and they scored 6 TDs! The Berea kicker had to wait for his tee, as well. On another occasion, the tee was still on the field, two plays later.

On Harper's 103-yard interception return, it was horrible. He could have stepped out of bounds 7 or 8 times (he did not, but it was tight) and it would not have been called because no one was in position nor could keep up. Shocking.

Clock management was an absolute joke. With no play clock at the field, time is kept on the field. Not one delay of game penalty called on either side, when they were obvious. Very late in the game, the game clock was abused and not one referee took sight of it. One Berea pass downfield took all of two seconds. Another one took (gulp!) 16 seconds.

The end of the game was a joke, as well. Rhodes falls on the Berea onside kick with 5 seconds left. As they line up, the game clock is somehow reset at 10 seconds. As Rhodes takes a knee, the ref throws a flag for illegal motion. Game can't end on an offensive penalty. Doesn't mark off the yardage, basically lets it go, the clock expires, game over. Huh?

Look, I commend the guys for giving back, but that performance was subpar.

Rhodes is now 2-0 for the first time in many years.

Meal of Links

Our annual visit to the Taste of Cleveland was last night. The entertainment was Michael Stanley and the Resonators. Sorry, the guy just does not resonate with me. While others seem to enjoy his take on "Sweet Jane/Wichi Tai To", I am rather bemused by it, as it seems unnecessary. Anyhow, the food I had was pretty good. Chico's Deli has not opened yet, but I had some really good Spanish rice with chicken from there. And the beer (and weather) were cold.

I would have posted this earlier, but I forgot. Ten tricks on improving your memory.

People Walking Into Glass Doors



Arthur C. Clarke predicts the future. In 1964.

I'm in Giant Eagle yesterday and got all excited. The cover of The Globe says Annette Funicello is in her final days. Then I was told I don't have her in The Dead Pool. I did last year.

Naughty by nature? How about dwarfed by nature. Awesome stuff.

A look back at rigging game shows. Today, most of the questions are way too easy.

Hat tip to Paul. For it's Mrs. LeBron Wade!

Exercise Yard

Browns made cuts yesterday to get down to the 53-man roster. I'm not a pessimist, but a realist. If you are still tinkering with the roster at this point and when you keep 12 linebackers, you are, you're in for a long season.

And, once again, two draftees didn't make it.

Visitor

None, on a sunny Sunday of a holiday weekend.