Fishing beginning, football ending

I have some major route news. Hamline Avenue has been swept at long last. I ride on Hamline a lot.

I rode on Hamline today, in fact, even though the day was cool and very windy.

But no complaints here. It was 60 and the sun was out. Yesterday I exclaimed to TOPWLH that if we could just get the sun out for a bit and if the temperature could just get to 60 that I would be satisfied. Both of my conditions were met and I AM NOT COMPLAINING.

What set me off yesterday was all day rain and a high of about 45.

I rode out into a 15-20 mph with gusts to 27 NE wind. Hard. But I AM NOT COMPLAINING.

This is the weekend of fishing season opening in Minnesota. The ambience at Lake Vadnais has been enormously altered. Suddenly there is a crowd.Just before arriving at Vadnais I got this photo at the Sucker Lake south parking lot. This makes two already this season.Interestingly enough, a lady spotted me lining up the photo as she was parking her car just a couple of spaces over. She came over and engaged me in conversation. She had her car window smashed in that very parking lot a couple of years ago and what I would not have guessed was that her criminal victimhood occurred in broad daylight. She said at that time the police told her that there was a roving gang based in the larger nearby city that was doing the breaking and entering.

On to football season, which is ending just as fishing begins.

On Saturday, the northwest England city of Manchester celebrated an historic double. At Wembley Stadium, Manchester City have won the FA Cup for the first time since 1979, defeating Stoke City by 1 nil. Meanwhile, back home in Manchester at Old Trafford, Manchester United tied Bolton 1-1 to secure the championship of the Premier League. Manchester United also remain alive with a chance to win the UEFA Champions League, facing FC Barcelona for that trophy on May 28, also at Wembley.

In France on Saturday, Lille have captured le Coupe de France with a 1 nil victory over Paris-Saint Germain at Stade de France in Paris suburb Saint Denis. Lille is also first in Ligue 1 with three games remaining. The league title which Lille seeks would create another historic double, le Coupe and the league championship. Prior to the victory in le Coupe, Lille had not captured any of the season ending trophies for 56 years having last one le Coupe de France in 1955.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum . . .

I have been closely following the fortunes of FC Nantes for 5 seasons. Each of those season featured a second half of the season collapse, some of epic proportions. A review:

2006-2007: FC Nantes was a storied franchise, boasting at 43 seasons the longest streak continuously in France's top league in the history of French football. The second half of season one of my heightened interest ended with the fans of FC Nantes storming on to the pitch before the final whistle of the season ending game to protest yet another putrid effort by the yellow. The team played poorly in the final as they had throughout the spring. The result of the final loss and all of the losses that went before was relegation to Ligue 2.

2007-2008: The season began promisingly enough with FC Nantes holding first place in Ligue 2 at the mid-season winter break. The team did not play as well after the New Year and even though they achieved promotion back to Ligue 1 they were not able to do so as the champions of Ligue 2, losing twice to Le Havre, and finishing second.

2008-2009: The first half was promising as FC Nantes hovered near mid-table respectability. The second half was disgraceful again as the team plummeted to the bottom and right back out of the league, relegated to Ligue 2 for the second time.

2009-2010: The team reached the mid-season break with 27 points, not stellar but comfortably in the upper half of the table. The second half collapse was epic as the team eventually actually celebrated avoiding relegation out of Ligue 2 to the third level league. FC Nantes finished with 45 points (18 in the second half) in a season when 44 was required to avoid relegation, Guingamp with 43 being the highest ranked team relegated.

2010-2011: The team again began well, reaching the break in 6th place with 29 points, just 3 from the promotion zone. During the break the team added a couple of players from Ligue 1 sides and also enjoyed some success in le Coupe de France, reaching the round of 16 before going out to eventual champion Lille on penalty kicks after playing the Ligue 1 kingpins to a draw. With two games now remaining the second half collapse has again been epic. After losing 3-1 to Sedan on Friday, FC Nantes has 44 points, 15 points for the second half to this point. Nantes has again avoided relegation as Vannes, the top team in the relegation zone and the only one in the zone who could theoretically catch Nantes, is at 38 points. Vannes would need to secure all 6 points remaining while Nantes gets none to draw even with Nantes. At that point goal differential would be the tie breaker and Nantes is currently-2 while Vannes is -24. Nantes is safe for this year but all that means is another year of ignominy is Ligue 2. FC Nantes, your fans are very, VERY disappointed.