And now back to coverage by the parade participant . . .

[We turned onto Broadway at 9th.  Sara got to walk down the middle of our main drag probably for the first time since she played for the Alex marching band.]

[The rest of the parade turning the corner – you can see the construction from 6th through 8th in the background.]

[Sara patiently waits for me to catch up again as I perform my reportorial duties.]

[The following masses . . . ]

[Then we were back to the old high school.  Jefferson looks lost and abandoned, in its chain link fence security fortress.]

[If you follow this blog (and why wouldn’t you?), you will recognize the tennis player, 2nd from the right.  Josie Nelson’s our wunderkind singer, guitar player, song writer who also dabbles in . . . did you know a listed synonym for tennis is “curling”?  Anyway I didn’t even realize Josie was in the group until heard her say, “I’m losing my voice” (all the cheering, don’cha know?).  So I said, “Oh no, there goes your career.”  Well, that wasn’t helpful.]

[That’s Kendall, Kohler’s daughter and her shooting guard, on the left in gold . . . singing?  She almost got by too before I noticed her.]

[Thus endth the parade!  🙂  ]

[Then it was on to the football game, the feature presentation of the weekend.  We were hosting the Rocori Spartans.  When Sara asked who we were playing and I answered, she said “Whhaaaaa?”  Well, she lives in California and there was no such thing as Rocori in our day (well, if there was we didn’t play them).  We came early for the tailgating – burgers, chips, and stuff – and my first “exposure” there was to The Competition.]

[While I left to properly recycle my pop can, a complete stranger picked up my camera and took a “selfie”!  😉  ]

[Then she took these photos of two old guys?  OK, the “selfie” was by Pam Lucas, a fellow Y worker outer, and Richie Braun is the other “old guy.”  Richie and Marlene’s grandson, Brayden Amundson, caught a 25-yard pass for the last TD of the game.]

[Where are we?  The Texas prairies?  😉  Can  you find the supervisor in the middle photo? As you can  see, it was a beautiful sunny day – and warm and humid.  Sara and I did the 2-mile (+?) parade walk in a half hour and worked up a good lather.  The forecast for some time had called for PM thunderstorms, and by the morning the call was for strong thunderstorms by 3:00 – the game started at 2:00.]

[The super suggested I go up to the press box for photo ops . . . and a nice breeze.]

[OK, so you’re wondering about the result?  Check the following Echo Press story.  (Pssst, it was 36 – 10 for our Cards!)]

http://www.echopress.com/content/cardinals-cap-homecoming-victory

[The Big A]

[The Big AD]

[The team storms out of The Big A.  The Competition is there to confirm it.]

[The team storms back to The Big A.]

[Apologies to the cheerleaders.  I had The Big Lens on, which gives me a narrow field of vision.   I’ll do better next time.]

[Brayden is introduced.]

[And his QB Jaran Roste follows with the rest of the team.]

[The opening kick-off is returned by Joe Gorghuber.]

[The first hand-off is to Alec Wosepka.  The running game picked up in this game – Justin Cumberbatch pounded them in the 1st half, Roste finessed them in the 2nd.]

[The completion of that first run . . . OK, not much.]

[Something happened.]

[The Cards are closing in . . . ]

[Cumberbatch scores on a 9-yard run!  A great individual effort – was hit twice behind the line, got free, and broke it to the outside.  Must be that wrestler’s balance!  🙂  ]

[The PAT was high enough and long enough . . . but apparently didn’t go between the uprights?]

[The Cards scored again on 22-yard pass to Gorghuber.]

[Then a nifty 2-point conversion to Travis Krueger.]

[Then the forecast came true.  Just before the end of the half, the rain started slowly.  Many, including us, headed for our cars.  By the time we got to downtown, it was a down pour with gale force winds.  No, the above didn’t happened on this night – but if the storm had lasted longer, it could have.  The start of the 2nd half was delayed for more than an hour.  When we got home, we turned on the Gopher game – that was similarly delayed about 2 hours later by the same storm.]the

Post game analysis from someone admittedly not that interested in football anymore:  The Cards defense has been good enough in all but the Sartell game.  I’ve only seen a game and a half but now I like the potential of the team.  If the defense remains consistent and the running game, about which I had doubts, continues to improve we should be competitive the rest of season.  I’d like to see the offense open up a little more because there are some abilities there – you have a 6’3″ quarterback and two 6’3″ wide receivers, Gorghuber and Amundson.  Roste has been under pressure when he drops back to pass, but he’s mobile.  Roll him out more – from the little I’ve seen he’s seems to be more accurate when he’s on the move, either direction, than when he’s back in the pocket.  But then what do I know?  Go Cards!

Around or about Homecoming:

[Some probably believe we did not have homecoming in my day.  We did.  These are the cheerleaders for the event in 1964, my last homecoming.  It should be noted, however, that the footballs in those days were dried and varnished zucchinis.]

[Our sister-on-law, Karen (r), was also at a coliseum this week.]

[I seem to run into these two all the time recently.  They are, of course, the girls’ basketball coaches, and I believe this photo was illegally obtained from Kohler’s FB post.]

[Soccer and volleyball had reasons to celebrate this week.  Soccer photo from the Echo Press and volleyball from someone’s FB post?]

[I think Colvin came back to pick up her diploma (photo from her FB post).]

[I ran into Abby Williams (well, I think she ran into me) at the parade.  After hugs and pleasantries I had to catch back up with my walking classmate – I blew the photo op!  So, the best I can do is Abby’s 2008 state champ classmate, Danielle “Roadblock” Justice, who “tended” a New Zealand men’s team to their league championship (Danielle’s the one without a beard – photo posted by her mom, as I recall).]

Bowling is not a sport because you have to rent the shoes.  ~  George Carlin

Up next:  Haven’t a clue?