USC?

I'm particularly sentimental about my home state at the moment because I am eager to go home for Thanksgiving this week. I'm looking forward to the current niche season of the year - the barren chilly gray that comes in November. Thanksgiving fits a specific time after the colors of harvest are gone and the fields are (usually) empty but before the snow flies (usually). This is how I expect it to be Wednesday when I arrive back home.

In both my anticipation as well as my heightened awareness of different good things going on back home, I've been checking the Sioux Falls paper online more often. I've been reading about the two Catholic high schools playing for the state football championship, the college teams that made the playoffs and the basketball teams from the state opening games. When I call home in February, the conversations with my parents could last five minutes with no news but for the reiteration of coming plans to come visit me and go skiing. But now is the very best time of the year it seems.

When I emailed my parents to give them a quick rundown of my coming weekend - skiing (already) and watching the Ohio State / Michigan game - I was surprised to receive a near immediate answer from my Mom. She said, "Dad and I are going up to State to watch them play USC tonight at the arena; yes that would be University of Southern California...." When I read it the first time, I paused at the USC part. If you told me that Notre Dame was playing USC next weekend, the acronym wouldn't have been a problem. And even though South Dakota State went Div I in athletics two years after I graduated, I didn't make the connection. So I paused thinking, 'University of South. . . Canton? U of Sioux. . . huh?'

Once it sank in that the Trojans were flying from southern Cal to play in Brookings, I had to sit back and chuckle. I always enjoyed the drive to Brookings. There would be a crisp blue sky above, a sun setting over the winter plains - like a Terry Redlin painting when the occasional farmhouse went by. But if I was from California - at a university located "in the heart of Los Angeles" according to their website, I would probably wonder what side of the earth I had landed in. These women grew up thinking that SDSU was San Diego State University - and being correct in that part of the country.

USC's roster is all from the west coast but for three players - one from Missouri, Illinois and Ohio, respectively. State's players are from SoDak, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and like most of the teams that were in the NCC in my time, are Caucasian. I quickly went through both rosters, and as a side note it continues to amaze me how beautiful the women are - on both teams, on all teams I remember it being this way.

One thing I liked about South Dakota and North Dakota when I played was that neither state had a Division I school - NDSU also went Div I after I left - and the NCC was so strong nationally. I liked that our little farm states had such good showing and such strong following in the area - nationally ranked attendance at many of the schools we played. It's a little different now since ND & SD State have gone up, and I wonder what will happen to the NCC in future years. Even Augie is testing the waters to go a different conference. That makes me sad, but I'm thankful it didn't happen while I was there - that none of this change happened while I was there.

I remember State's team with a lot of respect. Their women were strong physically, tough defensively, and I respected their coach. So I was really proud they beat USC. In the Argus article, the USC coach downplayed the loss and State's downplayed the win. I just have to smile quietly for my state. For State. Good job.