Last week Steve proudly announced to the family that college football was just around the corner. Aside from being season ticket holders to the worst team in the Pac-12, we are also looking forward to Saturday afternoons where the TV is a constant display of important games while the kids work around to get their chores done.
Tonight ASU had their opening game. August games in Arizona can be downright miserable due to the heat so we were expecting a scorcher. On top of that, we were fully aware this could be our only win of the season so although a Thursday game isn’t ideal on a school night with everyone’s sports schedules, we made it happen.
We were enjoying a hot but successful game, until out of nowhere right before halftime, a massive dust storm blew in – often referred to as a haboob (no, I’m not lying, look it up!)
We usually have some warning with these storms, but it was a good 15 minutes of being pelted by dust before our phones dinged with a national weather alert of a dust storm. We stayed in the stadium for a bit while ASU marched towards a touchdown. But eventually the wind and dust and flying trash was more than we wanted to deal with and we ducked out quickly – unsure as to the outcome of the game. We made it to our cars to find a mess of a parking lot including porta potties in the middle of driving lanes.
We made it home safely and we learned the game was delayed. And then we watched the storm continue to gain strength from our front porch. We had every reason to believe the game was cancelled. But as I was sitting down to write, I pulled up some news articles about the damage the storm caused around the valley and then I saw the current score to the ASU game. After a 2.5 hour delay, they went back on the field. At 12:30am, they are just starting the 4th quarter!
I’m assuming the stands have long emptied and they’re playing in a quiet stadium.
What a way to kick off what is quite possibly the worst ASU football season we have personally witnessed! And you know what – we’re still going to all the games. Because we love college football too much to give up!
