Sept. 29, 2010

Well, we are basically halfway through my fourth and final year here in Rhode Island. Before the season is over, and before I forget to, I'd like to write about the bests and worsts of my experiences while playing for URI.

The way it will work is I will present a topic, and then give the best and worst within that topic. You'll catch on. Also, I've collaborated with my fellow seniors in coming up with some of these answers. Just to guarantee validity, not because I'm a nice guy or anything. The following stories are all true, real-life events.

ROAD TRIPS

• The Best: An overall best road trip is tough to pick out, probably because they have all been so blissful and worry free. In all seriousness though, there is one trip we all look forward to every year; our last road trip of the season. No, this isn't because we're all pessimists excited for the end of the season; it's because of a small tradition that takes place every year on the last trip. We call it the Freshman Skits, and every freshman has a shot to make fun of the older guys on the team. It is sort of a poor man's version of the Comedy Central Roast specials. Except for the roasts of Pam Anderson, David Hassselhoff, and Bob Saget just are never as funny as the roasts of Greg Balicki, Peyton Warwick, and Michael Tanke.

• The Worst: This one has got to be last season's trek home from Binghamton, NY. If everything goes well, the drive from upstate New York to Rhode Island is awful already. And, if you haven't already figured out, everything didn't go well. Our bus was older than most of our freshman. No more than two hours into the journey, it started to overheat. So, we had a choice. Wait four to five hours for another bus to come get us, or continue with this bus. Being the fearless warriors that we are, we continued on, but only at about a 55 mph pace, and stopping every hour or so to let the engine cool down. I felt like a losing single A baseball team from the 1970's.

PLACES TO EAT

• The Best: Unequivocally, The Library at St. Bonnies is the best place we have ever dinned. A full breakfast buffet and a top class one at that.

• The Worst: My freshman year, somewhere within the concrete jungle that is Philadelphia, we found an IHOP. The surrounding area made me think we were in Chernobyl during the late 80's, and our food tasted as if we really were. Everyone that ordered the chocolate chip pancakes (about half the team) was served these spoiled tasting wannabe pancakes, and that was after the 45 minute wait.

MATCH ATMOSPHERES

• The Best: I really cannot come up with just one again. Really, I'd be doing the others an injustice by not mentioning them. My freshman year at home vs. PC was memorable. We played to a 2-0 win with the help of over 3,000 students and fans. Then to go home and play Notre Dame back in front of my hometown friends and family will always be special. Playing on TV at Binghamton - while being heckled by their 4,000 or so homecoming hooligans - was cool; leaving with a draw was even cooler. This year, we've been blessed with two great atmospheres already. At ODU in front of a rowdy group of student supporters that numbered well over the hundreds. And an overtime victory in our home-opener and Grassroot Soccer game vs. Siena was special. Especially because of all of the supporters who made it out that night... What am I thinking? This isn't about some of the favorites, it's about the best. And that 2007 home match vs. PC was the best, by far! Here's some pics from that night.

• The Worst: Last year we had a home match against Temple in sub-40 degree weather with heavy winds and extremely heavy sideways rain. Here's a quick video from that day - and as bad as it looks, it still does the awfulness of that weather absolutely no justice. If you turn your speakers up, you can actually hear the wind and rain. I vividly remember Temple's freshman from El Paso, TX looking at me as if he were on the Titanic as it was about to sink. He did not want to be there. And neither did anybody else outside of our team. We had a total of 13 fans that game. I know because I counted, and three of them were my mom, dad, and brother.

I intended on writing more bests and worsts, but this blog is already long enough. If you want to know more adventures of the URI Men's Soccer team, just call me.

Today's YouTube clip of the day was recorded just outside of Princess Juliana International in St. Martin. I've read that its one of the most difficult landings a pilot will attempt... at an airport anyway. Here, have a look... crazy stuff!

Thats all for now. Stay tuned for more Tuesdays With Tanke. God Bless and Go Rhody.