We all knew it would be hot. I had spent weeks preparing by going into the sauna more times than a wrinkly older man. I drank water. I drank Gatorade. I drank pickle juice. I took potassium supplements. I bought a cooling towel. I ate fruit. I drank Pedialyte. It was still hot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tKJvWWDP4

I left on Wednesday afternoon. Security at the airport was unusually quick. I sat at the gate ready to go. My teammate Gatorade and her friend were on the same flight. Our flight got delayed because the previous flight in was delayed and then had a mechanical issue. I watched The Post on the flight. Great movie. Anything with both Tom Hanks and Meryl Strep has got to be good.

We arrived at Las Vegas and walked out of the terminal to the shuttle for the car rental. The heat slapped us in the face. We picked up the rental, went to the store to get some supplies for the week and checked into the hotel. I ended up crashing early in my air-conditioned room. My apartment back home doesn’t have AC as most don’t in the Northwest. As a consequence, my wife and I have had multiple fans blowing around our apartment. I was happy to have the AC.

I woke up early on Thursday. It wasn’t because I had to. My body clock is just program to wake up at 6:20 am every day. I tried to go back to sleep but I was too excited. I have a routine I try to keep on game days. I normally like to eat lunch around 11AM but we had a film session scheduled for then, so I got in my rental to get some food.

On my way, I saw a man walking on the right hand sidewalk, looking kind of rough. He took off his right shoe and flung across 2 lanes at a passing mini van. He then kept walking down the street with one shoe on like nothing was out of the ordinary. Don’t do drugs kids!

After our film session, I went back to my room to eat my lunch and organize my stuff. Anyone who plays football knows that you must have everything organized and ready to go in a certain way or you feel weird. We had a walk through in this cool on site gym which was nice for a hotel gym.

At 3PM I rounded up a few of my teammates into my rental and we drove to the field. The field was at Sunrise Mountain HS. It’s a bit out there from the hotel, with more desert and surrounded by mountains. The view was nice but the minute I got there my phone had no reception.

I should back up a little and explain that for about a week before this trip, I had been sick. It seemed closer to flu symptoms. I had tried to battle through, hoping that I would feel better by the time we got to Vegas. I was feeling a little better until about 24 hours before we left. Whatever prep I had done to try to hydrate myself was negated. If hydration were a cell phone battery, it started pretty full and dropped quickly. I kept trying to recharge it with more hydration tools but I just don’t think I could keep up.

I started to feel weird during warm ups. Part of this I think was due to the fact that our jerseys are hella tight. HELLA TIGHT. For some reason our white ones seem tighter than the blue ones. When I put my jersey on my pads, it clamps them down to the point I can’t get in them. It takes help and a lot of work to get in them. I have to go down in notches on my straps because otherwise I can’t breathe even in mild weather.

During our first defensive series, Kase tipped a pass up at the line of scrimmage and I dove to catch it for a pick. Everyone was really excited including me but all I wanted to do was try to breathe. I came off to the sideline thinking maybe I’m just excited and need a second to calm down. I went in the 2nd series and had to come off. I was overheated, I couldn’t breathe, and I think I had a mini panic attack. I have never felt that panicked in my life. I couldn’t find the water. I was frustrated. It was all I could do to take my helmet off and sit down to calm down. I felt light-headed.

Our trainer came over to me to work with me. I stuck my hands in a bucket of ice water and dosed myself with a hose. I drank water. I focused on breathing. Finally, I was able to get back in control. I had my teammate take my pad straps down a couple of notches. Even though they were looser I could at least breathe.

After a bit I went back in the game. I felt OK for a few plays and then combined with Kase on sandwich tackle in which she knocked me in the head between the eyes. I again started overheating and now I had a pounding headache. I came off to the sideline and again went through the process of trying to cool off. I was so frustrated I had tears. I did not come all the way to Vegas for this.

Our trainer had let me know the emergency truck near by had an IV. I debated about getting one at half time but after weighing the cost and if it would really help fast enough, I decided to try to take care of myself during halftime and only go to it if it was absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, we are not the NFL and have to pay that cost ourselves.

During the first half, our defense had made some good adjustments from the first time we had played the Utah Falconz. We were hanging tough and only down 13-0 at half. Our offense was moving the ball better than the first time we had played them but hadn’t converted anything into points yet. I was not the only one struggling in the heat. I’m sure other people on other teams were too. It was what it was.

We went back out for the 2nd half and it cooled down a bit thankfully. This lead to us playing a little better and our offense started clicking more. We ended up losing 29-14 but in a respectable showing. I think without the heat it might have been even more of a game.

After the game, I was a bit out of it and just wanted to go back to the hotel. I loaded up my car full of teammates and gear and we headed back. I pulled up to a light and there was a guy who was going to each car at the light and staring them down trying to get money.

Rhyno was in my passenger seat and looked at me and was like, lock the door, lock the door. I was in a rental and not quite all there and hit what I thought was the lock button. Instead I hit the window button and it went down as he approached. I quickly hit it back up as Rhyno looked at me like I was crazy. Then Ceci in the backseat lowered her window and yelled at him until he left. It was hilarious. It’s the basically like a German Shepherd and Pitbull saying lock the door and the Chihuahua in the backseat going off until he left.

The next morning, I got up early and went to a laundry mat to wash my game stuff. Since we had 2 games in 3 days, I was not about to punish San Diego by not washing my stuff. I went to the store and picked up a huge thing of Pedialyte and watermelon bowls. It was back to the hydration drawing board.

I was happy we were playing again because I wanted that taste out of my mouth. I think I had played well considering everything but I was frustrated that I couldn’t help more. I felt like Michael Jordan during his famous flu game. Only MJ didn’t have to have the flu in the 106 degree Vegas heat with pounds of equipment on. I was happy for another shot to feel better and show out.

After getting back to the hotel and working on my hydration, I met up with Syd, Adrienne, and Maya to head to the Mob Museum. I had seen ads about it before and it was on my list of things I wanted to do this trip. It was a pretty cool museum. Mafia history has always fascinated me.

Later that evening, my wife arrived and we met up for dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse. I love meat. I respect vegetarians and vegans but I couldn’t do it. My body needs protein. It was pretty good but I was sad because the dehydration had curbed my appetite and I couldn’t eat as much as I wanted to!

We then went to the Luxor to see the Bodies Exhibit. It’s basically an exhibit of actual human bodies and showcases the different parts and systems. It is both fascinating and creepy at the same time. The first couple of rooms I kept having to remind myself that these were real bodies and not just models because you expect them to be plastic models. Then you look at the facial features and they look like real people. Because they are real people it’s almost shocking.

Jess’ favorite was the blood vessels of an arm. My favorite was a guy who had a ton of replacement parts. I’m pretty sure they just added them to him after to showcase what replacement parts look like. Either that or I have no idea what this guy did for a living. He had a knee replacement, hip replacement, screws in his wrist and leg, metal in his skull. He looked like Robocop. I told Jess that would probably be me later in life. I already have screws in my knee.

The next morning we had another film session and walk through in prep for the next game. I was feeling a little bit better and was anxious to get back on the field. We left for the field at the same time to arrive to it being about 10 degrees cooler than it was predicted to be and even a little rain. I was thrilled.

We had gone into this tournament with something to prove. No one thought we were in the same league as the other 3 teams. Utah, San Diego, and Texas have all won titles. They have had a lot more attention and accolades because of it. Seattle has always been a solid team in the Northwest but hasn’t had the opportunity to get to this level a lot. In my opinion, having played against Seattle for many years before joining them, it’s not a lack of talent, it’s a lack of experience at that level. The more games you play at a higher level, the more you understand what it takes to win at that level.

The Patriots win all the damn time. It’s not because they have the most talent. It’s because they are smart, confident, and know how to pull of a win no matter the circumstances. Iron sharpens iron. You go through hell and come out a beast. Seattle has only had their toes in the fire.

We wanted to prove to the outside world what we knew within ourselves. That we can compete. That we have talent. That we do have people who will hit you. That we won’t back down from the more celebrated teams. I think we did prove that this weekend. We took on a Utah team that is fast as hell and in hellish conditions and played it pretty tough. We weren’t blown out. We made plays. We belonged on the same field. We got better as the game progressed.

We knew San Diego was going to be more of a physical matchup. We had faced them in the playoffs a couple of years ago in the 2nd round. No one seems to remember we were up 14-0 in that game early before the wheels fell off. We knew that their QB Melissa can throw it on a rope 50 yards down the field. We knew that Guidry is fast, tough, and everywhere. We knew that Cable is very strong.

We ended up losing 16-6 but it was 9-6 for most of the game. We only gave up 7 defensive points. San Diego got 9 points from a safety and later a pick 6. They made the plays they needed to win but we also could have easily converted on our opportunities to win. We had a surely dropped TD, another pick in the end zone to end a drive, and a couple of other mistakes that hurt us but we will learn from it.

We played hard and we again proved we belong on the field. Give us more shots at this level and we will start converting.

After the game, Jess and I went out to dinner with Trish and Mona. My friend Andrea also game out as she had come to the game. I studied abroad with her in England 13 years ago and she now lives in Vegas.

I went to the Golden Spike later on but had to leave at 2:30AM as our flight was at 6am. The thing about leaving Vegas is all the decently priced flights out on Sundays are either really early or really late. I think they assume everyone is hungover so if you want an afternoon flight you better be prepared to pay a lot more.

We had stayed up all night. We went to Starbucks and when we walked to the gate it was the longest and slowest walk ever. Jess and I were so loopy with exhaustion that it felt like a movie. We boarded the flight finally and I passed out for about 30 minutes before I got too stiff.

When we got home, my cat apparently missed me because she ran up to me when she normally is mad at me when I leave. We literally slept from 10am until 5pm. Woke up and passed back out at 10pm.

I plan on taking a week or so off to let my body heal and then prepping for my upcoming finger surgery. I played the whole season with a badly fractured finger that has now healed weird. I will have surgery at the end of August to break and reset it. Compared to what I have been through with my knee I should completely fine and focused on training for next year.