Our first game of the new season was at Limon. Two days before the game we get a call that there's a concert in the gymnasium scheduled for Saturday afternoon and that we have two options: move the game up to Friday afternoon or push the game back an hour to 9pm. Given the short notice, we didn't feel our players would be able to get their permission from their respective jobs to leave Friday afternoon, so we agreed to a late 9pm start. We offered to flip the game, play at Escazu on Saturday and then visit Limon on the return leg, but that offer was not accepted.
So off we went Saturday afternoon, eager to get our first game under our belts. After stopping for a bite to eat outside of Guapiles, we pulled into Limon just past 8pm. The concert/talent show had been scheduled to end at 8PM, but was still going full steam when we got there. Then we walked into the gymnasium and saw a rather elaborate stage sitting right in the middle of the gym.
So we waited; our team was itching to play against a tough Limon team. At around 8:35, I heard the words that the final contestants would go on stage and then the judges would pick the winner. Okay, we might be all right, I thought...but as soon as the final contestants finished they announced a new act while the judges deliberated. The concert wrapped up at around 9:00 and people started filing out of the gym. The court was still cluttered with the stage, the estimate was that it would be at least an hour before they would get it moved if they started right away (apparently the Cerveceria guys in charge of the stage had left). At 9:15 the refs called the game in our favor.
This is the first game I've won by forfeit and it really sucks. Not just because we spent most of the day driving over to Limon, but rather cause we really wanted to play. After five weeks of beating each other up in practice our guys were eager to see how things looked against a live opponent.
So it was back on the bus, a quick beer pit stop, and back to San Jose, pulling in at 2 AM.
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