Ramblings of Dannelly from 9/8/2005: The World Begins to Turn, Again.

Is it just me, or does the world sit still for about eight months out of the year. You click around the Internet looking for information about football, you find a little. Then you go to your favorite message board and start and argument about some subject that if it came up during the season, no one would even respond to it.

“Who has the best special teams headhunter”
“Long socks or short socks”
“To spat or not to spat”

Or pretty much any topic started by Prediction King. You get the point. But we have to do something to get us through the offseason. Without football, it seems like the world stops spinning.

Now before anyone shoots me an email about not being sensitive toward the situation in New Orleans, understand this: I keep seeing people talking about how they need a release from what has happened to family, homes, and jobs. So with respect to their requests, I will move on with football talk while keeping them in my prayers.

(Insert Awkward Transition) Dickinson State and Lindenwood probably feel like their worlds cannot spin fast enough right now to get them to another football game. Both team’s upsets have left them reeling in the early season. Never fear my friends of the feather and of the jungle, the Blue Hawks and Lions are fine. They are still quality ball teams that will probably make a run at the playoffs. Now if the lose again, I might be changing my tune.

A big game of interest this week takes place when Hastings College travels to Sioux Falls. If you remember, both teams made it to the NAIA Championship Series last season and were bounced in the second round. USF has the obvious advantage at home while returning more key starters than the Broncos.

On a side note, RB Mike Dvoracek of USF had a great game last week for the Cougars rushing for 204 yds. But that is still not as good as Jabari Woods of Iowa Wesleyan who rushed for 259yds on 21 carries in the Tigers opening game. Too bad the Tigers couldn’t limit the offense of Waldorf as they fell to Waldorf 41-33.

Another set of impressive numbers came at the wide receiver position with Brian Hartzler of Evangel almost going for 200yds. Hartzler finished the night for Evangel with 192yds and 3TDs on just 5 catches in a 51-48 air show. Seriously, I coach high school girls basketball and I would love to have games where we would win by that exact same score. However I would bet there were a few choice words in the defensive meetings on Monday.

This weekend, with the help of the Saints Athletic Association, I will be in Helena, MT for Azusa Pacific and Carroll College. The Saints and Cougars meet for a rematch of the 2004 semifinals in what should be a great ball game, regardless of the final score.

The most impressive thing about these two teams are not their athletic abilities, but rather the great character and sportsmanship that you see on the field, while they are playing. Yes folks, the best teams in the country play with dignity and pride. Maybe your local team should start doing the same because the end result is always the same thing, winners.

If the NAIA had a “Character Bowl” this season, then I would say this game should be earmarked as the game. People seem surprised when you tell them these facts because so often we equate winning with teams that are cheating or finding ways to cheat. That is not the case with teams coached by Shinnik and Van Diest.

So the world has started spinning and we finally have something new to talk about. Check back soon folks as you will have video and plenty of features from Carroll/APU to keep to content for the next week.