Savage Words: I’m hot. I’m cold, and I can’t get it right

By: 
Tom A. Savage, Contributing Writer

I’ve had a bit of a tough time lately figuring out what to wear at outdoor sporting events. 

Actually, it’s nothing new. For years, I’ve missed the forecast dreadfully. I dress too little on a blustery night, and I’m overprepared on a toasty one. Happens all the time.

More than once, I’ve gone to a Brandon Valley soccer game in the fall with jeans and a sweatshirt, fully expecting it to be a typical autumn day filled with crisp breezes and an occasional swift breeze up the back of my sweatshirt.

But more often than not, I’m roasting out there. It’s much hotter down on the playing surface than anywhere else, and I’ve paid for it – a lot.

I’m not entirely certain why I can’t get it right. At a soccer game back in August, I very much fell victim to overdressing. It’s August…why was I expecting it to be crisp and breezy? On that particular day, it most certainly wasn’t.

As I stood behind one of the goals two months ago, I could literally see the mirage of the hot air coming off of the playing surface. In the dictionary, this mirage is defined as: hot air near the ground and less hot air above it that creates a gradient in the refractive index of the air and so making a virtual image of the sky appear to be on or below the surface.

Rubbish.

All I knew is that I was overheating down there with my sweatshirt and hood, all cuddled up nicely in the extreme heat.

Late-season football games are just the opposite. I’ve stood through many games on the sidelines freezing my booty off because I didn’t have enough to wear. I look back at some of my notebooks over the years, and it’s worth a chuckle to see my writing in some of the October and November entries. You can visibly see my bad handwriting as my hand was shaking like a freshly bathed dog.

Last year at a home game in Brandon, Journal editor Jill Meier approached me in the fourth quarter when she could see that I was shaking like an off-balance washing machine on a fast spin cycle.

“What were you thinking,” she said. “You don’t have a coat?”

I didn’t, and I paid for it.

Last Thursday at Brandon Valley’s football regular season finale at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls, I was determined to stay ahead of the forecast. Before heading out to the stadium, I threw on jeans and a sweatshirt.

I took my dog for a walk, and honestly, I was hot. But, I threw my winter coat in the car simply because I knew I’d missed the temps before.

When I arrived at Howard Wood, I grabbed my bag from the backseat and glanced at my coat, sitting on the floor. I rolled my eyes. The sun was beating down and I chuckled that once again, I missed. Why would I ever need a winter coat?

At Howard Wood, I watch the games from the massive press box above the home grandstands for the first three quarters before heading to the sidelines for the fourth. The windows in that press box are also massive, and they swing wide open to let the fresh air in.

Midway through the second quarter when the sun had set, the fresh air coming through those wide-open windows also brought a briskness that made me realize that I had done it again. I left my coat in the car, and damn, I could have used it.

Between the third and fourth quarters, I raced to my car and grabbed my coat, so thankful that I thought ahead and prepared.

While the Lynx were pouring it on over Jefferson in the fourth, I was clad in my winter coat and gloves on the sidelines.

For once, I got it right.

Here’s to hoping the Lynx can advance to the Class 11AAA championship game. Unless the Dakota Dome officials get the thermostat wrong, I should be OK.

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The Brandon Valley Journal

 

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