Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Friday, June 4, 2004

KIMOSABBY BABY

We had an hour of practice Friday morning to prepare for not one, not two, but three games later in the day. Practice was ugly, and I knew only about 7 names (Plonkeysan, Thomas Robinsonsan, and the rest of the CSU boys). We won all three, but each was a struggle. None of these were supposed to be hard games. We played on a dirt field that was very similar to playing lacrosse on a clay tennis court. The "dirt" just got into everywhere, including under one's skin. It all seemed a bit strange to me for a culture so obsessed with cleanliness. The field was part of a whole complex that had been built on top of a water treatment plant. One of the first things I noticed upon arrival in Tokyo was how cleverly the Japanese use their limited space. This should be of no surprise to me. I have been driving exclusively (almost) Japanese vehicles since 1972. Urban sprawl is generally quite different here, that is for sure. As the field got drier and drier on this hot, sunny Edogawa afternoon, the clouds of dust near the crease looked like smoke signals being sent from the goal area.

The games went on into the night. We were a weary bunch of cowboys as we headed back to the hotel. There were to be two more games Saturday, the first one would be against the Japanese National Team. To say I felt that we were under prepared going into the game is understatement.

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