Reminded me of a high school football game I was coaching in 35 years ago. We had barely gotten into the state playoffs as the #8 seed in our region, and we were taking on the last year's state champion in game 1. Late October, 28 degrees and misting rain that froze on contact. I remember little icicles forming on the tip of my nose. I kept knocking them off and discovered later when I defrosted that I had taken the skin off the tip of my nose. I had a weatherproof coat on, but I had misfastened the pocket cover on the right side and I ended up with a pocketful of ice cold rain water with which I doused myself when I took the coat off. The worst part was standing out in the driving rain while our team got the crap kicked out of them on the field as our reward for making the playoffs. Most of the other team's players were on leave from the military while ours were still learning how to shave. I stood there, my teeth chattering, glancing longingly at the nice warm bus parked across the field, wondering about the protocol of calling over the officials and forfeiting. Then in the final minutes, leading by 40, the other team called a time out in order to try to score again. I spent the end of the game trying to keep our head coach from going across the field to kill the opposing head coach. Riding home in the bus, I reminded myself that I was being paid a stipend of $150 for this job and I should just shutup and enjoy it.
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