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Right now it is really starting to feel like football season… At least for those of us Northerners. The weather is beginning to change and pass happy offenses are learning how to deal with the wind and rain, and heaven forbid, snow… How does your team prepare for games in the elements? What do you different with your game plan? Who on your team gets better in cold weather games?
Our coaches have taken a bit of an extreme approach to preparing the New Orleans Second Line for the harsh elements that winter brings. Even though we have an indoor practice facility, and often play inside in domes, our coaches felt it was wise to bus us to a nearby high school (god the field was in crappy condition) and make us practice outside in the elements. In addition to just merely being outside the coaches forced us to practice in nothing but our shoulder pads and pants (you read that right, no cleats). Even worse than that, they drenched each player with water from a hose before they headed out to the field so that they would be even colder. Seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me, but they are getting paid to put us in the best position to win.
I am pretty sure a couple of Tom Hanks' toes fell off when he was trying to make a cut. Stan Francisco went to throw a deep pass and his hand had frozen to the ball so his arm detached from his body and Bender Rodriguez ended up catching the ball and Stan's arm (belated Halloween spookiness too which is nice). I ended up faking a few frostbite injuries so I could go back to the practice facility and chill in a hot tub. I think with all of our limbs falling off the medical staff will have a tough task getting us ready for the next game, but at least we won't be affected by the damn cold! I've heard that our tackling dummies will be replaced with snowmen in the future too, but we will see if our roster is alive come next week.
Thank you to @bfry for the signature!