Four to Four

The Davidson Lady Cats had a road match against Georgia Southern on Saturday, January 17th. The team departed from Davidson around 4PM on Friday afternoon headed south for their overnight stay and afternoon tussle with the Eagles.

This left the men's team on campus with me staying with them to run the weekend's practices. While I was a little down about not getting to watch the ladies defeat Georgia Southern (and stay for the basketball team's victory at Georgia Southern,) it was a nice opportunity to work with the entire men's team.

We started at 4PM on Friday with Ninja Room activities (write if you'd like this workout) and worked our way to the pool for 80 minutes of fairly intense training (again, you may see me for details.) There were only two swimmers to a lane and, when asked to swim with a teammate that you don't normally train with, the guys assembled smoothly and worked accordingly.

After practice concluded, I brought the team together and stated we would be having our next practice at MIDNIGHT followed by a trip to our neighborhood Waffle House. And while the mix of reactions was worth recording, team trudged through the single-degree temperatures six hours later, returning to the pool for our Midnight Madness practice. It was a terrific scene; the guys all plugging away at the routine without complaint or general signs of sleepiness. We concluded the escapade with a talk about what it means to race anytime and anywhere and promptly hopped on the blocks for some relay races around 1:30AM.

Terrific all-around! Once finished swimming, showered, dressed, and on deck, the team and myself assembled for our trip to Waffle House.

And that's when we really became a team. There is not one outlying story to our trip to Waffle House. There's just something about that place that is unforgettable. I can clearly recall the now three times I've visited the fine establishment. The first was as a sophomore in high school when our baseball team traveled to Cocoa Beach, Florida. We didn't have any breakfast so we ate at the Waffle House adjacent to the hotel. I really didn't think much of it other than I was not too sure about the people I was eating with at 10AM; looked a little rough around the edges and probably bothered by a couple of teenagers ruining their morning.

The second was as a sophomore in college. I had visited my good friend Robby at Duke on a Thursday night (April 5) and after an evening of solid collegiate fun and antics, we dined at the Durham, NC Waffle House around 3AM. I had never been so scared about where I was eating in my life. Not only was I not too sure about the people I was eating with, but I wasn't too keen about the people waiting on us. As the driver, I implored the three guys with me, including Robby, to eat quickly. Of course they stayed as long as they could.

And now, the third encounter with this fine southern eatery. We arrived around 2:30AM. Since I had not been to a Waffle House in eight years, I never realized that there were not many tables for 8 or 10. There were hardly any tables for four, mostly just tables for two and seats at the counter. But with the fifteen of us, we dominated the left side of the restaurant. Not too bad.

Unfortunately for us, we didn't all get served at the same time or sometimes not at all. After five minutes, the Waffle House became more and more crowded and customers a little less "focused." People start to pace around our tables, glaring in hopes that we would leave. After all, there wasn't any food on our table so we must have finished eating. Oh to the contrary...

I sat with one of our talented freshmen. We ordered the same thing, "The All Star," which came with a waffle. We never got that waffle, only the bill from the half-awake waitress that included the waffle. The freshman seemed pretty agitated and I just wanted to leave. As I approached the register, another freshman was in front of me waiting to pay. His main obstacle was not footing the bill but the very touchy-feely 50-something lady sitting next to the cashier looking for someone to put the moves on. Awesome. She proceeded to maneuver herself on most of the team, which prompted me to be the last one out of the Waffle House to make sure no late-might molestation took place.

After sprinting out of the store, I drove my table company home to his dorm and settled into my niche on Lake Park. It was now 4AM.

Those twelve hours were unforgettable on so many fronts. To go from a scene in "Remember the Titans" to "Groundhog Day" to "Dumb and Dumber" in such a short time is a lot for the brain to handle. And as the boys got the opportunity to sleep through the Saturday morning, I awoke a few hours later, headed to John's house to feed his puppy while he was still in Georgia.

Perhaps I should have taken her to Waffle House. My waffle might have been ready by then...