Football intersections

So today was interesting. We had blizzard-like conditions, one play performance that was canceled, and a general backlog of meetings for me that I had to somehow make all fit. It worked with only minimal problems.

After the first meeting, the play, the second meeting and some snow shoveling in nasty cold weather, I came inside to catch the last 35 seconds of the second FCS (Formerly Division I-AA) semi-final game. And what a finish.

Richmond was down 6 to Northern Iowa. In 32 seconds, with no timeouts, they engineered a long drive making critical first downs and using the sidelines. They scored a TD with 11 seconds left on the clock, kicked the PAT and went up by 1. UNI tried a gadget play that was unsuccessful, so Richmond will be going to the Championship Game to play Montana.

This game is special.
This game has meaning.
This game is for bragging rights.

And not just because it's the national championship game.

This game pits the University of Montana Grizzlies --

Not my alma mater but serving a congregation in Montana now makes me a Montanan and, hey, I pulled for them when I was in Washington and they were in the national championship game -- it's that whole Northwest thing

against the University of Richmond Spiders --

A place I've never been, never seen, and know absolutely nothing about other than my bestest Baptist friend ever graduated from there and is a big Spider fan

That's right religio-sports nuts --- This game is between Reverend Ref and the AngloBaptist.

So, a challenge to my friend, classmate and colleague:

Loser has to swing incense at their Christmas Eve service.