Monday, December 03, 2007

Sedalia anxiously waits

Well, good news for Guberburger fans: it looks like the Wheel Inn will reopen at a new location sometime next year! My sister emailed me a week or two ago to let me know, and then I googled to this link in the Sedalia Democrat today:

Wheel Inn, guberburger to return

Yeah, I'm going back.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

WPFL Championship

I went down to San Diego CA (actually La Jolla) to enjoy the last game of the 2007 season, the WPFL championship, on Saturday night. Brrr! I made the somewhat unwise choice to ride the motorcycle down, and it was chilly! I also got rained on like heck for about three miles, just south of Camp Pendleton, but other than those minor discomforts, it wasn't a bad trip. The Motel 6 on Hotel Circle left a lot to be desired, but hey, that's what I get for going cheap.

The SoCal Scorpions (American Conference champs) were hosting the Houston Energy (winners of the National conference) for all the marbles. Both Houston and SoCal are good teams - the Energy won the first three WPFL titles, in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and while the Scorpions have been to the playoffs many times, this is their first trip to the WPFL championship. I met up with Amy and Chandra, and we settled in for a good game.

It was an entertaining game, dominated by defense. The offense on both sides seemed to misfire quite a bit, which kept the scoring low. The Houston quarterback (Cantu) in particular was off-target all night long, unable to complete many passes. SoCal drove down the field a number of times only to stall out in the red zone. The frustration of the offensive game's stutters were offset by the BIG hitting of the defensive squads. Nothing brings a crowd to its feet like the ringing thud of a pancake block! At halftime, SoCal held a 14-7 lead.

I started to wander around the crowd, meeting up with some folks. I ran into the WFBTalk gals over in the opposite stands, just in time for their halftime show (LOL) and Robin nabbed me and put me on the air! I also got to meet a bunch of Empire State and Las Vegas players, sat and talked with Coach Josh from the Quake for a little bit, and generally mingled and schmoozed. I didn't get back to my seat next to Chandra until the end of the third quarter and the gals were wondering where the hell I had disappeared to.

The second half was fairly boring, with both offenses badly stalled out. Houston did have a chance, a possession in the waning minutes of the game, but couldn't capitalize. SoCal hung on for the 14-7 victory and a well-deserved championship. They've been a good team for a while now and it's nice to see them reach the top.

The big topic of discussion - what's going to happen to the WPFL now? A lot of teams are leaving for other leagues. No one knows if there's gonna be women's fall football in 2008.

Sunday, I bundled up and took the long way home through the mountains east of San Diego, stopping for apple pie (again, yum) in Julian. The previous days' storms had left snow and ice on the shoulders but the roads were perfectly clear, and it was quite a lovely day. Cold cold cold for riding. I gotta get some better winter gloves.