Well well well, look at me I'm Sandra Dee... the year is 1978 and although only four years old at the time, I knew that Grease was indeed the word (click on that link and go back, and if the song is before your time...click it anyway and get swept away in a time/space continuum...the timeless sound of the Jersey Boy, Frankie Valli!). Sandy, all fine with her bad-self...
Sandra Dee: "Danny?"
Danny Zuko: "That's my name, don't wear it out!"
Sandra Dee: "What's the matter with you?"
Danny Zuko: "What's the matter with me, baby, what's the matter with you?"
(love it Danny, great comeback...a question with a question...when I do that, I usually get the old, "Really Doug..." - remember that's my wife's name for me...)
Sandra Dee: "What happened to the Danny Zuko I met at the beach?"
Danny Zuko: "Well I don't know, maybe there's two of us. Why don't you take out a missing person's ad or try the yellow pages? I don't know."
Sandra Dee: "You're a fake and a phony and I wish I never laid eyes on you!"
WOW! Powerful words...fast-forward... the year is 2012... and Sandy has apparently returned! The greatest storm of all-time, Franken-storm, all the weather nerds in the forecast booths said...
So Sandy got her revenge on Mr. Zuko and pushed all this week's CAA Men's Soccer competition back to Friday (that was a long way to go just for that, a bit of a metaphorical stretch wasn't it...)...what does that mean for us? Well, a little bit of a Trick - we're not gonna play Wednesday - paired with a very large TREAT my friends! That means all those that wanted to use the mid-week/workday excuse not to attend our clash with the JMU Dukes, now have no excuse!!! The potential CAA Championship game (if we win, we win the League folks) is now the start to a potentially delicious fall weekend to kick-off November...(a.k.a. "No-Shave-November" ..."Mo-vember" if you wish - mustaches are an acceptable facial hair choice during play-off runs... this was preceded by "Unkempt" October...a.k.a. my excuse to stop shaving... also known as Red October - only the Phil's didn't make the play-offs - so it's the Hunt for Red October... oh, guess what? You found him, Red October is here! With my red beard and all!).
But before we talk anymore about Friday, let's get a quick re-cap (and by quick, I mean drawn out with senseless analogies) of our Wednesday business trip back to the Island of Strong...a bountiful land mass beneath the afternoon shadows of Gotham City with fertile lands producing two of your present-day Dragons...birth place of one Douglas Frederick Von Hess III (slightly embellished, it's just Douglas Frederick Hess...I was almost Dieter and not Doug, thanks for that last minute switch Mom and Dad...might have been rough growing up on the Island as a Dieter...) and one Matthew Ernesto Massimo DiDomenico (bigger embellishment...actually, it's just Matthew Eric DiDomenico, I think the Italian theme on bus trips - Godfather Trilogoy, Rocky Anthology - is slowly eating away at the slight sense of reality that I behold). So Long Island, the land of the strip mall! A strip mall every other block; a strip mall that always has a bagel shop, a pizzeria, a deli, a cleaners and some sort of 5 & Dime Shop...
Expert travelers at this point in the season (with the exception of my "shoe" incident, but clearly that wasn't my fault...totally a TSA Conspiracy against me...), we left Philly at 12:15 pm for a 7 pm kick-off in Hempstead (a bit early you say? ah, of course...a little thing called traffic - we beat it of course - our driver, Alex, was magic! Oh, and we did take in the next two Rocky films... Rocky III on the way and IV on the way home...double magic! We love to get to our opponent's field 2 hours prior to kick-off on away games...gets us on sight and able to go through our normal routine like we were playing at home...plus an earlier departure would afford Dido and I some of the nostalgic tastes of our youth...the strip mall!). We chose Carlino's Pizzeria & Ristorante...a classic Italian joint on the Island, with a full wall-mural and all! (I think I saw our only real Italian - Michele Pataia - shed the smallest of tears, which is pretty small considering he is just a little guy, as he stared at the mural in bewilderment, taking himself back to the coastal village he was born in, beneath the shade of Mt. Vesuvius...(ummm, now a major embellishment...he was born in Rome, a.k.a. Roma to real Italians).
I digress (is that even possible at this point? Can you say babel???), a good meal and then off to the Pride's Den. The game got off to a great start - 1-0 us early on from yet another Nathan Page strike (for those wondering, yes, we keep feeding him the same thing...hence the scoring streak). He is having a run of it and we are excited that he is scoring goals, six games in a row...eight of the last nine for those counting. The last two games have been interesting...perhaps a little too interesting for my liking, but as I sit and think on it...it's probably my own doing!
How you ask? Well, we have been watching dramatic endings to dramatic movies every bus trip we have been on and I think the guys are starting to play act...hear me out on this one... Rocky I on the way down to the Towson trip...I use Rocky as my pre-game talk...we watch Rocky II on the way home...home game after that trip with Delaware, but Rocky is on the brain... a late goal against Delaware is needed to tie the game and it goes the full distance, 110 minutes (um, Rocky I - he doesn't beat Apollo, but Rocky goes the distance...hmm, coincidence?)... On the road again to Georgia, but no movie so Rocky stays on the brain...what happens? 90th minute PK save by Tim Washam to deliver a win (ok, Rocky II - both Apollo & Rocky hit the canvas in the 15th round, the last round of the fight...hmm similar to the 90th minute of our game???...Rocky saves the win by getting to his feet while Apollo fails to get up...Tim saves the game with a huge stop and GSU fail to get up... alright, getting a bit erie now...).
Onto Hofstra...we take in Rocky III and IV... as I said we score early in the game, but then we concede a late goal, only to have some late heroics on a Robert "Yes I am Italian and Inspired By Your Movie Choices Coach Hess" Liberatore (strange middle name his parents' gave him...) "strike" a.k.a. a driven service that missed everyone crashing the goal bounced on the overly firm turf and managed to hit the top corner in an un-savable fashion but I will play it off like that is what I meant to do... (Rob is now an "attacking" center back in his mind...notice I said in "his" mind...I kid you Rob, I love that you scored!)... Now the analogy - Rocky has his way with all those chumps and bums / cupcakes that he fights (aka...we score an early goal) then takes the beating of his life by Clubber Lang ("No I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool"...what a great character!!!), we get hit on the chin and concede a late goal to Hofstra... Rocky questions himself (he question whether he can h-a-n-g... with Clubber L-a-n-g...you like that little rhyme sauce) reinvigorates, and rematches... similarly, we question ourselves for a brief moment in that second half, can we really dig this out? We start to find our rhythm again... Rocky starts to find his (although his rhythm somehow involves getting smashed in the head with haymakers from Mr. T, I mean Clubber Lang , go on click that one, I dare ya)... he starts to enjoy the beating, "Come on Champ, ain't so bad...ain't so bad..." Rocky comes back - The Dragons come back... ok now this is getting downright theatrical!!!
Folks, all the more reason to join us 7:00 pm this Friday night at Vidas Athletic Complex...it's Senior Night...it's the last regular season game...it's a Title Bout...and I'm wondering if Sly Stalone himself is going to show up!
Get Yo' Facial Hair going and get out to 43rd & Powelton this Friday for Tricks AND Treats!
Happy Halloween,
Doug
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