COLUMN: A busy week

     This past week sure seemed to be a hectic, exciting and white-knuckle type week for various reasons.

     The hectic part was due to Hurricane Irma. She saw to it that various sporting events in Florida came to a halt. As I was watching coverage Sunday evening I heard Florida State had cancelled classes for the upcoming week.

     I can’t imagine having a kid or two at a college that was being ravished by a hurricane. Granted, the majority of students are probably from Florida but how about the many freshmen who may have come from out of state? I’m sure many were without transportation.

     Speaking of Florida, I didn’t realize how many high school friends of mine ended up in that state. I’ve had a few check in on Facebook announcing they are doing well. Shortly after the 4^th of July we spent a few days in the Florida Keys. We talked about going back again sometime. I’m guessing it may be a while.

     The white-knuckle part of the week occurred last Saturday afternoon. The Hawks and Cyclones put up over 80 points in a very exciting seesaw affair. Both teams came out ready to play and as a Hawkeye fan, I considered the game over in the 4^th quarter when the Cyclones went up by ten.

     When the Hawks tied it up to force OT, I was still skeptical that they would pull out a win. It’s hard enough to win on the road and doing it in OT always seems to favor the home team.

     Both teams should be excited for the rest of the season. You hate to see one team have to lose a game like that.

     The exciting part of the week was the start of the NFL season. The defending Super Bowl Champions, the New England Patriots, fell to the Chiefs on Thursday night. That made my day. They have the worst record in the NFL.

     My Packers looked sluggish on offense but played some killer defense. That’s probably the opposite strengths on that team.

     And last but not least, it was a tough weekend for my Cubs, dropping three straight to the Brewers. The Cubs are hanging on to first place by a thread and with 19 games to go, 11 of those are against the Brewers and Cardinals, two teams nipping at their heels.