The Season In A Blink: Styx

(As in Greek mythological river, not the band.)

NOMINATE FOR MENNO LANDS MEMORIES

When did life start? For Bishop Ussher, it was October, 4004 BC. Some geologists put it 4.5 billion years ago. Bleeding Bruin Blue, being slightly younger than the Earth, should have a more easily distinguishable date of origin, which is true to an extent. But what date is it: August 6, when I wrote the introduction post; August 8, when the team previews came out while you were all watching the Olympics; or even August 19, the first game report? In keeping with established BBB procedure, I will eschew covering practice and stick to on-field performance.

And on-court performance.

And on-track performance. And…you get the idea.

On August 19, the world seemed pretty open. All of our teams were unbeaten entering play (one of them hadn’t lost since 1954). We had sophomores coming back from major deficits in their first varsity matches as the tennis team gave Northridge probably our closest match ever against them. The volleyball team scored 22 or more points in three different games against Jimtown, whom I previously remembered for sending their entire baseball lineup twice in one inning. The middle school boys soccer team even won by five goals—on the third day of school. But even these victories, some real and some only moral, couldn’t mask the fact that Bethany’s composite record stood at 2-3, a full ten percentage points off the break-even mark and 30 from an “outstanding team” plaque in the lobby.

The reverse inferiority complex of Bruin invincibility did pretty well over the rest of the week, adding a 12-3 mark to the inauspicious beginning and forming a 14-6 overall mark, right at the plaque threshold. The football team contributed an extra victory, but was cut later that evening in a fit attributed alternately to the budget or a burning desire for journalistic credibility.

Monday, August 25 began the final week of August, which picked up where the previous week stopped. If girls soccer is removed from the equation, the Bruins went 10-3 that Monday and Tuesday, though the credibility of our goalkeeping may have been diminished on Thursday when boys soccer knocked Lakeland Christian by a 2-1 score. Lakeland Christian has no girls soccer program, and their goal was scored by a player whose cells contained two X chromosomes; one point on the scoreboard, innumerably more in the memory banks. With this incident in mind, however, the Bruins continued to dominate.

Tune in this weekend for more Bruin victories on The Season In A Blink.