Dawg Days of August

I don't know how often to write on this, so i'll just write when i feel like it. It is my blog...anyway,


August is here. Already.

And that means the following year will be the 17th of playing soccer. [Insert: "Wow. That is a long time."]
When i was younger and just starting my life of soccer, my club team played in a tournament called:

"The Dawg Days of August"--- That was the cool way of spelling Dawg.

We lost every game in that tournament, which ironically was played in Joplin.
Since then, Club soccer has left the city of Joplin. It was kind of expected. None of their teams were any good, they were just not as bad as my team. Other than playing on a horrible team, here's why we lost every game:
August in Joplin
It was not that the Referees were terrible, or that the field was small, or that the ball was flat. It wasn't the rain or the clouds. It was the HEAT.
And I grew up in Tulsa, so i was used to the hot, end of summer days that compose August in the mid-west.
But Joplin is a completely different kind of heat. And in a bad way. Let me explain:

Other cities, such as Tulsa, St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas, and "larger" mid-American cities experience the same heat that we feel in Joplin. It is just something that comes with the landscape. But none of those places experience the kind of heat that is experienced in Joplin. They have something that is soothing. They all have something to relieve them from the blistering sun. A coolness clouds the heat in those cities.

The heat is different in Joplin, because it sucks all the coolness out of anything, including the weather.

But one thing that Joplin has in August is school, namely Ozark. And i am excited about that. I really think that i could be a professional student. I love learning. But since that is impractical, i will graduate. And then after that, all the coolness will disappear from Joplin, and so will i. [me leaving does not affect the coolness of joplin, the coolness of joplin affects me leaving] I will move on to a less sweltering, unknown place, with lots of cloud cover. And until then, i will try to keep Joplin's heat from burning me.

So, here's looking forward to April showers, May flowers, and the Dawg Days of August 2010 not in Joplin.