Our arrival
I missed the team meetings at 10 a.m. today but I did manage to catch the bus and make it to the arena, which was my biggest focus. We had lunch (salad, garlic bread and pasta salad) when we arrived and the players and coaches have just been hanging out since.
The arena Corpus Christi plays is on the fair grounds out here and it's more or less a glorified horse barn. From talking to some of the players, I think they feel pretty good about their set up at the Taylor County Coliseum. The Hammerheads home arena has bleachers in each end zone (but only utilizes those in one of them) and on the side opposite of the team areas. The ceiling, which angles up on each side to a point in the middle, has low hanging pipes and air vents that will surely be a factor in the kicking game. Riders kicker Nich Pertuit, who kicked here earlier this season and studied the set up when he arrived at the arena, said this is not his favorite place to kick because of the challenges the low ceilings provide.
The Ruff Riders "locker room" is much worse than the arena, however. The visiting team has to dress in a curtained off square in an adjacent building. I'm not sure if it has air conditioning or not but if it does, I don't think they've turned it on.
The Hammerheads facilities may not be top notch, but I've been told their fans are. Riders offensive line coach Robert Beebe said the Corpus Christi fans are some of the best in the league. That should make for a fun atmosphere tonight, considering how many times I've heard coaches and players, especially safety Joey Longoria, talk about how much trash talking the Hammerheads' players and coaches do.
With three more hours until game time, I guess I'll be sitting tight for awhile. But stay tuned, I'm sure things will start getting interesting once the Riders start warming up and the Corpus players arive.
0 Comments
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Click here for our full user agreement.