Don’t ever trust the weatherman

Gene Steinmeyer

Good old Mother Nature sometimes has unusual effects on sporting events. It can lead to some pretty funny memories. I have to admit, at the time Mother Nature was screwing up a sporting event, it didn’t seem very funny.

Probably the strangest event happened in my first years as the women’s basketball coach at Doane College. We had agreed to play Peru State College in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. Peru State had a player from Plattsmouth and I had a few local players. That often meant a full gym for the game.

As we drove to Plattsmouth, we traveled headfirst into the face of a surprise blizzard. We arrived in good shape and I forgot about the weather as we played the game. My Doane team was a high-scoring, run-and-gun, press-when-you-got-off-the-bus type of team. Peru State was an average team that featured a huge back-up post player that didn’t look very athletic.

I should have known it was going to be a strange night just from the surprise blizzard. We put our high-powered offense on the floor for everyone to see and scored a total of 42 points. It was pretty embarrassing.

The sad thing was that we were in the game as Peru State scored only 49 points. It was a pretty bad display of basketball for all the locals to observe. The non-athletic post player got into the act as she hit a half-court buzzer beater to end the carnage. I should have kept my mouth shut. As the players showered, I was informed that all the roads out of Plattsmouth were closed by the blizzard. Peru State could stay with parents, but Doane had to look for lodging. The only place in town was a motor court called “The Rock.” My players nicknamed it “The Roach.”

At least the rooms had heat and we survived the night. I wasn’t very impressed with the management, though. When I asked for an 8 a.m. wake-up call, a really large man with a five-day stubble and a t-shirt too short for his rather large midsection handed me an alarm clock and announced he didn’t get up that early on a Sunday.

That’s just one example of the many times weather has played a major role in athletic events. The first game of the playoffs for the Royals against the Astros had a rain delay. I was there with my son, Sam, and his friend, Zach Patton. They were so soaked and cold, I bought them dry t-shirts.

We waited out a miserable rain delay only to watch one of the few times in the postseason the Royals couldn’t make up a deficit. At least in basketball, you don’t have to worry about rain delays.

Maryville High School not only has had great football teams the last several years, but they have had great football weather. That isn’t always true. One very rainy fall in Crete, Nebraska, the Doane College football team shared a field with Crete High School.

We had replaced the sod earlier in the year, but it hadn’t taken root very well in the summer heat. The rain never stopped that fall. Both teams played in an area more suited for mud volleyball than a football game.

I’m sure it was a great relief to everyone associated with Bearcat football either as a coach, player, or fan that we earned the No. 1 seed. That meant no trips to the “frozen tundra” of Minnesota in November or December.

It seemed over the years that we might have the better team on a good football day. However, drop that temperature to zero, freeze the ground as solid as concrete, play in the cold for three hours and, somehow, the Minnesota teams seemed to gain an advantage.

What better proof than Emporia State going to No. 2 seed Minnesota State-Mankato in good weather Saturday. The Hornets won, 51-49, on a last-second field goal. There were times when we played those Minnesota teams that by the end of the game, there wasn’t enough air in the football to kick an extra point.

All seems good. Mankato is out, which works even though they would have to come to the tropical climate that Maryville offers in December. Emporia is in and I witnessed the lopsided beating we put on the Hornets earlier this season.

Postseason football is here and who knows what the weather will bring. That blizzard might hit or it could be short-sleeve weather. Just never totally trust that weatherman.