Saturday, November 20, 2010

Friday Night Lights, College Gameday, The NFL Today

The best thing about the fall is that every weekend is filled with football. And this time of year, the football feast goes well beyond the weekend, with NFL games on Thursday nights, too.

Fridays mean high school games, and I go to a prep game almost every Friday night. I saw most of Claremont High’s games this year, but skipped a couple to catch Upland High and watch some of the kids who played baseball with or against Sam when he was younger. Both teams advanced to the CIF-Southern Section playoffs, and I opted to stay closer to home for the Upland game against Temecula Chaparral instead of traveling to Eastvale (near Corona) for the Wolfpack’s game against Roosevelt High. Both the local teams faced tough challenges in the first round. Claremont lost its game to Roosevelt, 28-21, and apparently had a chance to tie the game late. Roosevelt was the regular-season second place team in the league that was won by nationally ranked Corona Centennial. This was the best season for the Pack in several years, finishing with an overall record of 7-4.

Meanwhile, Upland outlasted Chaparral, 40-35, but was clearly the better team, despite the close score. The Highlanders gave up a pair of touchdowns on turnovers, but also took advantage of very questionable coaching decisions on the part of the Pumas. Upland moves on to host Corona Centennial on Nov. 26.

Saturdays are reserved for college football. When UCLA has a home game, that eats up the entire day, which is set aside for hours of tailgating, plus the game itself. There is plenty of college football action on TV when the Bruins are on the road, although I’d just as soon forget about their performance Thursday night at Washington. Ouch.

It’s actually hard for me to sit down and watch an entire NFL game on Sundays, mainly because I have a need to use my time constructively, even if that’s doing chores and running errands. The only thing that matters anyway is how my fantasy guys are doing, and those updates are available all day. 

I love when it rains on the weekend. It’s the perfect excuse to sit and watch football and not feel guilty about not being productive around the house. That lack of guilt only goes so far, because the rain also means that I should sit down and update my blog.

Tonight I’ll turn my attention to women’s volleyball and hope that Cal State San Bernardino wins the NCAA Division II West Regional. If the Coyotes beat Seattle Pacific, they’ll advance to the national tournament Dec. 2-4 in Louisville for a shot at the university’s elusive first national championship.

1 comment:

North Corona Life said...

Sid, I was at the Roosevelt versus Claremont game since our middle child goes to Roosevelt and marches in the band. When I saw who they were playing, it was painful for me, to say the least. I couldn't root against either team!