Monthly Archives: March 2000
New England 3 @ New York 0
Diary From The Gridiron
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November 3, 2000
Dear Diary,
Week two had finally arrived, our much-awaited home opener! I was up at dawn and looking out the window I could see the most perfect football weather cool, dry, cloudless blue skies. In a word, gorgeous! Except for the wind 20 to 30 m.p.h. gusts, at times higher, greeted us at Mitchell Field as we warmed up early Saturday morning. Tough luck for us, as we had practiced our passing game for much of the week, hoping to use it extensively this day. In this wind, we would be forced to go back to basics, the ground game.
During the national anthem the colors were straining as the wind blew and thoughts of game plays and audibles raced through my head. All the preparation had finally culminated in this, our season home opener in front of friendly fans. They may have been cold in the stands from the winds, but they greeted us warmly on the field.
I guess our opponent from New England (the Storm) had the same idea as us because they were trying to pound out yards on the ground also. A real defensive battle ensued. For 59 minutes we both played a gem of a defensive game between the 30-yard lines. Back and forth all afternoon and now it came down to the Storm moving into field-goal range with seconds on the clock. They missed, but unfortunately we were penalized, not once but twice, allowing them the chance to finally score as the clock ran down .
A very disheartening loss! It gives us a split with the Storm, probably our biggest rivals in the Eastern Division, which is gaining a reputation as the “black and blue” division around the league.
Anyhow, a lesson learned. Losing is tough, but never more so than when you¹ve played 59 minutes of shutout football only to lose on the last play of the game. We all vowed in the locker afterwards — NEVER AGAIN, NEVER AGAIN.
Well, now it¹s on to Oklahoma. We¹re headed into football country now, the perfect place to redeem ourselves from last week¹s downfall. GO SHARKS!
All the best,
Donna
Originally appeared on oxygen.com