Long time no blog.
After we came back from spring break, we had a few hiccups, but we've now been on a six game winning steak ever since. We are undefeated on the road and in our black uniforms and can't wait to open conference play tomorrow against Moravian.
The team's really excited to start conference play and defend our title as landmark champs. Since we know we can't write a team blog without talking about the food options, we'd like to dedicate this blog to the awesome parents and their tailgating skills. Every game, even middle of the week away games, we've had tons of fans and a plethora of food. The tailgates are a great time for everyone to come together and for the parents to get to know each other. Some are even planning play dates--the entire team hopes Mr. Murry and Mr. Swarthout enjoy their bike ride to the game tomorrow.
There's not as much variety in our lives since we've gotten back from spring break which is the reason for the lack of blogs. We're back in the grind of eat, sleep, class, lax and all of us now need to go get ready for practice. TGIF--remember no meat!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
11 + Hospitals + Bourbon St.
Sorry for the lack of blogging yesterday...Meghan went to the hospital after being sliced by a termite shield, Caitlin has sun poisoning on her right ear lobe, Laura fell asleep, and Katie was finishing the third book in the Twilight series.
Alot has happened in the last 48 hours. We had two people go to the emergency room yesterday, one for a virus and one for some stitches; we finished two floors and put up some walls with windows and doors; we found out that our team moved up in the polls to #11!!!; we all got incredibly sunburned; we ran through downtown New Orleans and the Louisiana State Park; we attended a "cookout" which only included chili; and we got some downtime to walk around and really experience New Orleans.
We hope everyone is as psyched as we are about being #11 in Division III! This is a HUGE feat for our team, seeing that this is the first season that our team has ever been in the pre-season rankings, and it is the highest seed we have ever been ranked. This Sunday is a huge game for us, and we know that we will give Salisbury a great game and will be moved up even higher in the polls.
Our team is very excited that our building site no longer looks like a lame, flat box. We now have two walls put up on either side of the floor panels, and are almost ready to put up the other two sides. As Caroline Taltavull said, "It was hard, but rewarding." We had no trips to the emergency room today, and with any luck we will repeat this tomorrow!
We each individually had very unique experiences when visiting New Orleans. A couple cars got lost on the way, a couple girls were hustled out of their money when asking to take pictures of the different sights, and a couple of the girls showed off their talented vocal skills in karaoke contest. Downtown New Orleans was a culture shock for everyone, in a good way! We ran for about 20 mins. around the city and then were able to go off in groups and explore more in depth. Alot of people took their chances with a FearFactor excursion and tried Fried Alligator. "It does not taste like chicken...it tasted like popcorn shrimp", said Lindsay Bitonti. The upperclassmen steered the freshman in the opposite direction of all the inappropriate window displays, which are very prevalent in New Orleans, and towards all the creepy, but G-rated, VooDoo and Jazz shops. All in all, New Orleans was a fun experience for everyone and we are really excited that we were able to go into the city, even if it was for a short time.
We didn't have a chance to dedicate yesterday's blog, since there wasn't one, so we would like to take this opportunity to dedicate today's to Barack, the tiny pitbull puppy that really brightened up our spirits after a very emotionally and physically difficult day yesterday; and simultaneously dedicating today's blog to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (the longest bridge in the world that our entire team and coaching staff crossed today). We hope we have enough time in the airport to write one last blog tomorrow!
Alot has happened in the last 48 hours. We had two people go to the emergency room yesterday, one for a virus and one for some stitches; we finished two floors and put up some walls with windows and doors; we found out that our team moved up in the polls to #11!!!; we all got incredibly sunburned; we ran through downtown New Orleans and the Louisiana State Park; we attended a "cookout" which only included chili; and we got some downtime to walk around and really experience New Orleans.
We hope everyone is as psyched as we are about being #11 in Division III! This is a HUGE feat for our team, seeing that this is the first season that our team has ever been in the pre-season rankings, and it is the highest seed we have ever been ranked. This Sunday is a huge game for us, and we know that we will give Salisbury a great game and will be moved up even higher in the polls.
Our team is very excited that our building site no longer looks like a lame, flat box. We now have two walls put up on either side of the floor panels, and are almost ready to put up the other two sides. As Caroline Taltavull said, "It was hard, but rewarding." We had no trips to the emergency room today, and with any luck we will repeat this tomorrow!
We each individually had very unique experiences when visiting New Orleans. A couple cars got lost on the way, a couple girls were hustled out of their money when asking to take pictures of the different sights, and a couple of the girls showed off their talented vocal skills in karaoke contest. Downtown New Orleans was a culture shock for everyone, in a good way! We ran for about 20 mins. around the city and then were able to go off in groups and explore more in depth. Alot of people took their chances with a FearFactor excursion and tried Fried Alligator. "It does not taste like chicken...it tasted like popcorn shrimp", said Lindsay Bitonti. The upperclassmen steered the freshman in the opposite direction of all the inappropriate window displays, which are very prevalent in New Orleans, and towards all the creepy, but G-rated, VooDoo and Jazz shops. All in all, New Orleans was a fun experience for everyone and we are really excited that we were able to go into the city, even if it was for a short time.
We didn't have a chance to dedicate yesterday's blog, since there wasn't one, so we would like to take this opportunity to dedicate today's to Barack, the tiny pitbull puppy that really brightened up our spirits after a very emotionally and physically difficult day yesterday; and simultaneously dedicating today's blog to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (the longest bridge in the world that our entire team and coaching staff crossed today). We hope we have enough time in the airport to write one last blog tomorrow!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Stop. It's Hammer Time!
So the build did begin today, but before we get to the details we would like to discuss our rather unique wake up call. We will preface it with the fact that we are staying at the Church with four other groups, also doing various Habitat builds. As a team, we did not have to wake up until the late hour of about 6:30am, however, the other groups had alternate plans for our wake up time. They decided to come into our building for breakfast at 5:45am and did not try to be quiet about it at all, clearly in violation of the "quiet hours rule" which states that the building is to remain QUIET from 10pm-6:30am. Needless to say, we were not happy about their complete disregard of the rules. We might have to ask Bob, the cat, to keep more than just the Louisiana critters out of our building.
We can sum up our jobs on the site in one word: hammer. We hammered all day long, from 8am-4pm. We worked on two different houses on Jasmine Street, an area in St. Tammany West, where they are not in a shortage of wild, skinny dogs that chase cars and sometimes people. For one of the houses, we finished half of the first level floor paneling, which involved a lot of caulking and hammering; the second house made some significant progress, even though we ran into some slight measurement issues (apparently a quarter of an inch is a huge deal in house construction). We were able to meet one of the home owners, and the entire team (including coaches) fell madly in love with a very attractive site supervisor, who was very helpful, personable, and fond of the vast amount of females occupying a very small construction site.
After an 8 hour day of manual labor, we put away our hammers, piled into our caravans, and traveled about 40 minutes to a field so we could practice til the sun went down...and then some. Despite the fact that half our team got lost, we still managed to get a few good drills in and some awesome sprints that were missing from our life for the past few days. All of this physical exertion has been worth it, however, because the food options at dinner were phenomenal!
McAlister's Deli. A southern, slightly better, version of Panera Bread (plus spuds and table service) and according to Katie Bitonti, "has the best Sweet Tea in America...everyone should try it once in their life." For a team driven by their taste buds, this was the perfect end to our seemingly endless day. Manual Labor + Practice and Sprints + Appeased Appetites = Bedtime. Hopefully our forearms don't hurt too bad tomorrow and we will be able to clue you in on DAY 2!!! Our lesson of the day: suns out, guns out!
We can sum up our jobs on the site in one word: hammer. We hammered all day long, from 8am-4pm. We worked on two different houses on Jasmine Street, an area in St. Tammany West, where they are not in a shortage of wild, skinny dogs that chase cars and sometimes people. For one of the houses, we finished half of the first level floor paneling, which involved a lot of caulking and hammering; the second house made some significant progress, even though we ran into some slight measurement issues (apparently a quarter of an inch is a huge deal in house construction). We were able to meet one of the home owners, and the entire team (including coaches) fell madly in love with a very attractive site supervisor, who was very helpful, personable, and fond of the vast amount of females occupying a very small construction site.
After an 8 hour day of manual labor, we put away our hammers, piled into our caravans, and traveled about 40 minutes to a field so we could practice til the sun went down...and then some. Despite the fact that half our team got lost, we still managed to get a few good drills in and some awesome sprints that were missing from our life for the past few days. All of this physical exertion has been worth it, however, because the food options at dinner were phenomenal!
McAlister's Deli. A southern, slightly better, version of Panera Bread (plus spuds and table service) and according to Katie Bitonti, "has the best Sweet Tea in America...everyone should try it once in their life." For a team driven by their taste buds, this was the perfect end to our seemingly endless day. Manual Labor + Practice and Sprints + Appeased Appetites = Bedtime. Hopefully our forearms don't hurt too bad tomorrow and we will be able to clue you in on DAY 2!!! Our lesson of the day: suns out, guns out!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Round 2
So after we failed to get to New Orleans yesterday, getting sent back to campus after our flight was canceled due to weather, we decided to give it another try today and finally made it to our destination around 9PM. We dedicate this blog to all the security guards at national airport who laughed and taunted us about our plans to actually make it to New Orleans today. Despite your negativity we made it, even with our soaking wet luggage, namely Farley's towels and sheets.
Once we got to Louis Armstrong New Orleans airport, we piled into 6 vans of various colors. The blue van driven by Julia (assistant coach Finney's friend) won the amazing race to Peace Lutheran Church where we are staying. You can find all forty of us in a heavily paneled building behind the church sleeping on air mattresses. Not even cell phone signals can penetrate these walls. We were given an overview of Habitat for Humanity's mission and what we will be doing for the rest of the week, along with an extensive speech on rules and regulations that must be followed within these paneled walls, including the presence of a tailess cat named Bob, who is a decendent of the bobcat, protecting us from all outside critters. We also made our lunches for tomorrow (PB&J for most of us) and tested out the 3 showers we will all be sharing for the week.
A few of us just went on a team run to pick up Popeye's for the team's late night dinner. It was actually pretty eventful. Our cook was dressed as a pirate and mentioned his hatred for people who order chicken while standing on the grill. Our cashier was named Ms Flo and she ran to Farley's aid as everyone else, including the assistant coach Finney, pointed and laughed because Farley had just wiped out face first, even though a wet floor sign was right next to her. We just thought you should know.
Its getting late, and we have to get up early for "Breakfest." Your dedication to this blog is greatly appreciated - We'll be sure to keep you updated. The build begins tomorrow.
Once we got to Louis Armstrong New Orleans airport, we piled into 6 vans of various colors. The blue van driven by Julia (assistant coach Finney's friend) won the amazing race to Peace Lutheran Church where we are staying. You can find all forty of us in a heavily paneled building behind the church sleeping on air mattresses. Not even cell phone signals can penetrate these walls. We were given an overview of Habitat for Humanity's mission and what we will be doing for the rest of the week, along with an extensive speech on rules and regulations that must be followed within these paneled walls, including the presence of a tailess cat named Bob, who is a decendent of the bobcat, protecting us from all outside critters. We also made our lunches for tomorrow (PB&J for most of us) and tested out the 3 showers we will all be sharing for the week.
A few of us just went on a team run to pick up Popeye's for the team's late night dinner. It was actually pretty eventful. Our cook was dressed as a pirate and mentioned his hatred for people who order chicken while standing on the grill. Our cashier was named Ms Flo and she ran to Farley's aid as everyone else, including the assistant coach Finney, pointed and laughed because Farley had just wiped out face first, even though a wet floor sign was right next to her. We just thought you should know.
Its getting late, and we have to get up early for "Breakfest." Your dedication to this blog is greatly appreciated - We'll be sure to keep you updated. The build begins tomorrow.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Airport Issues
Hey every one! It is about 12:03pm on Sunday and we should be in the air right now, but we were just removed from the plane for delays in ATL :) and have to wait up to 2 hours for our flight to finally take off. Our whole team is hanging out in the awkward side terminal where there are only 3 different kinds of food options and we are really ready to leave DC. Everyone is either reading a book from the Twilight series or catching up on their celebrity gossip with People, Cosmo, or Us Weekly. Our coach is surprisingly calm about us potentially missing our connecting flight to New Orleans when we reach ATL :) The team, however, is incredibly distraught about whether or not we will have sufficient time to eat during our layover in ATL :) Melissa Brashear, #27, says, "I hope the next airport has awesome food options, and I can't wait to have team bonding when we miss our connecting flight and have to sleep in the ATL :) airport." The team consensus is that we will be working in our daily fitness sprinting in between flights instead of at practice! We do have a few team members who are terrified of flying, namely Katie Buonopastore #2, who is currently refusing to get back onto the plane if the pilot does not announce 100% visibility in ATL :) We plan on talking her back onto the plane by explaining the variety of food options available in ATL :) Let's hope we make it and don't have to spend Spring Break '09 in DC!
Friday, February 27, 2009
We have decided to add a blog this year as a way of staying in touch with our family and friends. The coaching staff and players will be contributing throughout the season and we hope you enjoy it...
Well, the 2009 season is underway...it began last Sunday when the team hosted Adrian College (Michigan). We won 13-8 (http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/news/2222009_game01) and the win helped us move up to #13 in the IWCLA rankings.
Tomorrow we take on #8 W&L at home at 1pm before heading out to New Orleans on Sunday for spring break where the team will work with Habitat for Humanity (we will be working with the West St. Tammany site: http://www.habitatstw.org/).
Four of the current team members have agreed to write a daily blog while we are on the road. They are senior Katie Bitonti, junior Laura Haring, sophomore Caitlin Farley, and freshmen Meghan Murray (here are their respective bios: http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/bios/Bitonti_Katie, http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/bios/Haring_Laura, http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/bios/Farley_Caitlin, and http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/bios/murray_megan).
GO CARDS!
Well, the 2009 season is underway...it began last Sunday when the team hosted Adrian College (Michigan). We won 13-8 (http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/news/2222009_game01) and the win helped us move up to #13 in the IWCLA rankings.
Tomorrow we take on #8 W&L at home at 1pm before heading out to New Orleans on Sunday for spring break where the team will work with Habitat for Humanity (we will be working with the West St. Tammany site: http://www.habitatstw.org/).
Four of the current team members have agreed to write a daily blog while we are on the road. They are senior Katie Bitonti, junior Laura Haring, sophomore Caitlin Farley, and freshmen Meghan Murray (here are their respective bios: http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/bios/Bitonti_Katie, http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/bios/Haring_Laura, http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/bios/Farley_Caitlin, and http://cuacardinals.com/sports/wlax/2008-09/bios/murray_megan).
GO CARDS!
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