Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Sunday, June 6, 2004

THE JAPANESE ARE FANTASTIC HOSTS

Today was the big day. These were the 16th annual Friendship Games that we had come to Tokyo for. There were to be 10,000 fans in Edogawa Stadium to watch us play the more or less second best team in Japan. After our game, the Japanese National Team would play (get smoked by) Princeton. Because of the weather my guess is that there were only about 7000 people who came. That is still a lot of fans.

NIGHT MOVES

After 4 days of perfect weather we awoke on Sunday to low and raining skies. Still, when we got to the stadium it was rapidly filling up. There was a sea of umbrellas in the stands already, two hours before our game would begin. The USA West women were playing the Japanese Nationals (they ended the game tied). It also ended up raining pretty much all day long. These were and are enthusiastic and brave fans. They had made up signs for both Princeton (Men) and USA West (Men and Women). There was a large band (marching style), and the musicians were in the stands and played the anthems from the two countries, and other selections, too.

TALK TALK

I had to give another speech during the opening ceremonies. It would have been great, or at least fine, had I not (and not just once, but twice) stepped on the interpreter by not waiting for her to translate to everyone what I had said before moving on. I wasn't really nervous. I just screwed up. Oh well, it is hard to expect me, the non-public speaker, to get away with looking okay twice in two days. Once I could make, but twice would have been a cosmic aberration.

HARMONY IS FAR MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN ITS ALTERNATIVE

In the game we (USA West) came out and from the get go we looked like a different, more unified group and team. The game was close until late, and then we broke the other team down and consequently the game open. We won 6-3. It was a shortened game, only 40 minutes running time squeezed into two twenty minute halves. Harpersan (CSU) had 4 goals and an assist, and Keltensan (CSU) had a bag of assists. Plonkeysan (CSU) was also terrific, which was something I had been patiently waiting for. He remains my "horse", no matter what team I coach. However, he had been looking like he might be ready for the "glue factory" up until this game. On this day, and on this stage, he once again became our little Secretariat.

I finally hit the wall after the game. I was tired. I took a cab back to the hotel by myself. I needed solitude and given opportunity I ran to it.

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