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August 25, 2010

Goodbye humidity, hello fall football weather

By Shane Frederick Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — You went to bed Monday night when the air was still hot and sticky, the (hopefully) last gasps of summer wiping you out for the day.

You awoke on Tuesday to a cool breeze, low humidity and a predicted high temperature that warms the heart but certainly won’t overcook it.

Yes, Mother Nature blew football season right into Minnesota this week.

Sure, high school teams have been practicing for more than a week, and the Vikings broke training camp at Minnesota State before August was even half over. But this is true football weather, the kind of conditions that make you pack that hoodie and stadium blanket in the car just so they’re ready when you need them on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons.

On Tuesday morning, I swung by Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School outside of New Ulm to talk to coach Jim Buboltz for The Free Press’ upcoming prep football section. He was thankful for the change in seasons.

“I’m glad we were able to get outside after the week before last,” he said, referring to our most-recent heat wave. “The biggest thing is, our guys were ready to go.”

The pre-fall has mysterious powers.

For my two sons, baseball gloves are suddenly shelved, and games of catch are stopped without comment. Footballs appear from the far reaches of the garage, and requests are put in for Dad to play all-time quarterback and watch them battle for jump balls in the backyard.

It is still baseball season, of course, and at our house, most of us still favored watching the Twins, who are in the midst of a pennant race, over tuning in to a meaningless Vikings preseason game being aired at the same time on a competing national network. But we couldn’t resist peeking in between pitches to see Brett Favre’s four plays at the start of the game.

Over the last few days, I found myself organizing a couple of fantasy football leagues and picking out draft days, as well as arranging for tickets to an upcoming Packers game at Lambeau Field.

This time of year, I am often asked if I’m ready for hockey season to begin, since that’s my main beat at this paper.

Yeah, I stopped by the rink on Monday for a few minutes before the Mavericks held their first team meeting and their first captains practice of the season. I talked to senior defenseman Channing Boe about his summer and about the first day of classes at MSU.

But we’re still six weeks away from their first games of the 2010-11 season.

For now, I am ready for some football.



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Read his blog at mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com.

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