The Heat Is...On?

I've been virtually an East Texan all my life. Except for a couple of years finishing my degree down at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, and about nine months of living in Southeast Texas for my first newspaper gig, I've been right here in Marshall or the Marshall area -- 39 years and counting.

And this has got to be the wackiest August I've ever seen.

Where was this back in the mid-80s when I was playing high school football and dreaded -- absolutely dreaded -- two-a-days? I would leave the morning practice with borderline heat stroke, go home and sleep, and then stumble back for another two-hour-plus session in the heat. Those were the good old days!

There have been days here in August at ETBU where our football players and soccer players, in particular, had to battle that kind of furnace. It's just part of the drill while living in East Texas. It's like living up in Canada I guess -- you know there's going to be five, six, seven months with snow on the ground, so you always keep a snow shovel handy. Around here, you always know where the water hose is for a good dousing if needed.

But I would estimate that at least a dozen days in August was spent with rain either falling or getting ready to fall. The temperature for most of the month struggled to get into the high 90s, which is usually a break from the low 100s with 800 percent humidity. And now I look out my office window and we are getting drenched -- albeit not as much as forecast yet -- from what's left of Gustav.

Gustav has played havoc with our practice schedules here. Coach Sartain was busy calling around Monday, trying to secure an indoor practice facility in the area. There aren't many of those to begin with, and what was there is being used as a hurricane shelter, so it's unavailable. I stopped by practice yesterday afternoon and there was some good work going on, and that might have to be it as far as good practice time goes leading up to the opener Saturday in Minnesota.

Won't complain about the rain -- ever. It is a blessing. But it's putting a crimp in our schedules here as far as athletics. We'll see what happens the rest of the week.