May 04, 2004
 
« Five really good weekends »

Waking up from a four hour nap at 2 a.m. will make a man search for things to do. In my case, it'll be talking about stuff I did that you really don't care about -- unless you were there.

"Sussman's Five Really Good Weekends of the Year"

#5. One of those cottage getaways. The roommate and I got away from it all in February to a frozen lake in Michigan to hang out with my mom and everyone's favorite enlisted cousin, Laura. It's amazing what walking on a frozen snowcapped lake will do for a tortured soul who was in the midst of a two week no-column dry spell. Also I'm pretty sure there was a time where we all sang "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the car.

#4. A sober 21st. (For the record, a drunk 21st doesn't make the list because I doubt I would remember it.) It all started Thursday with a delightful (free) dinner at Ciao. It kept on going with a rather generous monetary gift, which was later converted into a Game Boy Advance. I ended up playing cards in Katie's room. Saturday night, two days later, was a free ticket into Connxtions to see Lord Carrett. He's no Cavanagh, but he did have a lot of prize one-liners, and those are nice to have because they are easy to repeat: "I found out why cats lick themselves -- they're delicious!" Somewhere in that week I received a postcard from the Wellness Connection telling me to celebrate my birthday responsibily -- they must have not read my alcohol & vandalism column.

#3. Weekend at Timmy's. A couple days after my breakthrough interview, we went and saw Tim Cavanagh's live performance at Connxtions Comedy Club. While the feature comedian was pretty bad -- some black dude who kept making redneck jokes (yeah that'll win you over with this white crowd) -- Timmy had an unforgettable show. Audience participation is a big part of his act, and I only wish I could embrace a crowd like he can. That's a gift, and it invokes a special kind of laughter.

#2. The time Bowling Green beat Northern Illinois in tackle football. In a twist of fate, ESPN gave the Mid-American Conference the "dap" it deserved. Getting up and traveling to Doyt L. Perry Stadium with the BG News crowd, we were part of the first ever crowd at GameDay @ Bowling Green. The best sign had to be the subtle "Go football" poster. The guy sitting next to me really wanted to drink with Lee Corso. Shortly thereafter we proceeded to camp out at the line to get in. Naturally we got some awesome seats, and by that I mean we actually got seats. For some reason I was the only one in the group that knew how to blow up the Thunder Sticks -- the girls had some difficulties. The score was nice -- 34-18. It was NIU's first loss, and it tagged us as the hot MAC team. No rioting occured, which reinforced the theory that BG drunks are all talk. Too bad a week and a half later, at Oxford, Ohio, Miami University tore us a new poopchute.

#1. Two words: third place. In a year where our football team won a bowl game and our women's basketball team came one game shy of making the NCAA tournament, the scrappy BGSU curling team didn't make the headlines. Me, Matt, Cullen and Nichole went to College Curling Regionals in February, which were held in Detroit. The Southfield Courtyard by Marriott wasn't as ghetto as we had thought, being a two-star hotel. The stain on the pullout couch might have said otherwise. Once the tournament started Saturday morning, we began with a thud. Cullen fell down on the first rock, but it ended up not counting since we accidentally started early. Therefore, we started better the second time and ended up beating Michigan State (score forgotten). Those guys were really nice though, and I hope to play against them again (we did, and they walloped us at nationals). We lost to Eastern Michigan, but then we beat another Michigan State team. Our fourth game, which had to have been the most sleep-deprived, fatigued game of curling in the history of mankind, ended up with us on the losing side to one of the Miami teams. This put us in position to play for third place on Sunday, so to celebrate we went to a shady gas station and bought pre-made sandwiches. Sunday morning that Miami team never showed up, so by default we won third place out of seven teams.

Yes, curling nationals had a lot more stories and memories, but a) that was spring break so it almost doesn't count as a "weekend," and b) we didn't win a game at nationals.

What was so sublime about this weekend was the fact that the previous year I finished 6th out of 8 teams when I skipped for the first time. This was the first year that there were this many different schools represented in the tournament, and for the first time there was only one BG team. Also, these were my friends, so I felt like I built this team from the ground up. I got these three interested in curling, and their desire to do well paid off. Nichole was afraid she'd blow it for the team, but she played as an effective lead and had threw more useful rocks in play than I would have ever asked out of someone who barely played at all. Cullen swept like hell and had blisters to show for it. Matt had some very important draw shots and he set me up for good opportunities. Somehow I had a few amazing shots despite a couple skipping blunders.

It was just an incredibly satisfying feeling. This is a very friendly, very competitive sport. Whoever doesn't play this sport is completely missing out on a tremendous opportunity. I have only had one comparable feeling to when I came back from curling regionals, and that was my Kairos retreat from high school. Obviously Kairos ranks much higher in the grand scheme of things, but I can't explain how great it was to win something like third place at a regional tournament.

Although I wrote a lot, so I guess I can put it into words.


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