No sleep till... Sunday!

There's probably no reason I should be up other than the fact that I haven't gone to bed when it's light out since I was like 10.

But let me take you through this weekend. I don't remember ever going without sleep like I did this weekend. So, I'll take you for a day-by-day look at this past weekend at the state softball tournament.

FRIDAY

I had to work, cover a game and all. From Thursday to Friday, I got like 5-7 hours of sleep or so. Basically, normal. I got out of work around 11 p.m. and my states weekend officially started.

I left right away for Oswego and we got in around 2-2:15 a.m. After checking into the motel we were at, we didn't really get "to sleep" until around 3-3:15 a.m. Well, the other three in the room anyway.

For me? Not so much. I got about an hour of sleep that night. One of my players was in there snoring away like he was sawing lumber. I couldn't block it out any way I tried. So I got a whole hour of sleep.

Now, realize that I don't usually sleep a ton at states anyway. Call it nerves or whatever, but I'm usually antsy and it's hard to sleep.

SATURDAY

We had an 8 a.m. game, hence the lack of sleep. We also only had one night in the hotel room because of some other things going on in the city. So we were staying the first night, then were playing it by ear. So, we were up by 6:15 or so, took showers and checked out of the motel.

That will have turned out to be a mistake.

When I went outside the room in the morning, it was cool -- but nice playing weather. However, it was cloudy. A quick look at The Weather Channel showed it was going to be raining in the not-so-distant future and probably for a while.

We get to the field and start the game at 8 a.m. This tournament runs with the 10-run mercy rule and we had a 17-5 lead in the top of the fifth. Three outs away from ending the game. What happens? The sky opens. Game is suspended. We give a cell number and leave the field.

Here is the problem -- we already checked out of the motel. We could have gone back there if we kept the room until the 11 a.m. checkout. Instead, we go to McD's for breakfast and having a home base of operations. So two people started calling to get us hotel rooms, landed some but we couldn't check in until 3 p.m. A bunch of us dropped down into Syracuse to a mall, then back to the field around 3.

It's locked up.

And sunny. And nobody is working on the fields to get us going. Argh. So we go check into the hotel and with a bunch of people in there, it's hard to lie down to take a nap. At 5 p.m., we head back to the field to find out the decision.

The plan?

They are going to work on one field to get it game ready. Once it's ready (by 7:30), they are going to finish the three 8 a.m. games, then move on to new games. While they are going on, they are going to one-by-one work on the other two fields to get them ready.

We are the second game to finish. Our pitcher is now in another part of the state for a wedding and won't be back in time for the first one. So I have to finish and well, even though I pitch some, I was nervous. So no power nap for me.

Turns out the other team doesn't show up, so I just have to throw one pitch and the game is over.

Now, the idea of the tournament is to play through the night. And they did. We played two more games -- unfortunately losing both. We played the second at like 11 or something like that and our final game started near 2. We left the field at 3:30 a.m.

I really wanted to win that third game because if so we would have played at 4:30 a.m. which I think would have been cool because we would have been playing when the sun came up. But everyone with the team (family, friends) had been troopers and stayed up the whole time -- so I'm sure everyone was happy to go sleep. But, at the same time, we weren't there to lose.

The long wait killed us for sure. Especially having to play an 8 a.m. game, then wait all day. Our second game also drained us. And our third, I think we were gassed. I firmly believe if we play that team right off the bat, we win. But, such is life.

So basically I was up for nearly 40 1/2 hours with a one-hour power nap in there. I was beat (even though I was still hitting well and had caught a second wind). Even still, my body was ready to sleep.

So, we went back and got some sleep. Apparently I was the snoring one this night and I kept getting hit -- so I was told. I guess I was THAT tired because I don't remember being jolted like that. Should have brought the breathe-right strips I imagine.

Got home, took a two-hour nap and am now doing OK for now. Hopefully watch a flick tonight, then head to bed so I can get back to the grind on Monday.