|
Welcome to the Game Day section of the PLPA web site. Game Day is a segment that features players and how they prepare for games including what they do during the day of a game as a chronology. This segment will feature Tom Phair of the Philadelphia Wings. Tom Phair's Game Day7:30 a.m. - wake up and shower. 7:45 a.m - get dressed and make sure all luggage is packed and that I have my plane ticket and passport and US money. 8:00 a.m. - make sure that all my equipment is packed and that I have a clean towel for after the game. 8:15 a.m. - feed my cat and give him some catnip for the weekend. 8:30 a.m. - eat breakfast, french toast, cereal and lots of fruit. I usually go over the scouting report a few times. 9:00 a.m - start my car and let it warm up and throw my lacrosse gear and luggage in the trunk 9:10 a.m. - head out to the airport, about a 20 minute drive that takes me 10 minutes because I have the music cranked and I am starting to get fired up to play in front of 18,000 fans. 9:30 a.m. - park my car and unload my bags and stand in line to get my seat assignment. 10:00 p.m. - wait in line at customs for a while. 10:45 a.m. - take off from Toronto for the 1 hour flight to Philadelphia. I will read the paper or watch out the window of the plane. Niagara Falls is pretty neat from a plane. 12:00 p.m. - I arrive and wait for my luggage to come out on the belt. Phone the Holiday Inn Stadium to get their shuttle to come and get me. Usually a guy named Thomas, he has lots of good stories about all the different celebrities that stay at the hotel. 12:30 p.m. - check into the hotel and unpack my clothes. 1:00 p.m. - go down to Legend's (Jake Bergey's father owns the bar) with Jamie Hanford and Dave Stilley to get lunch. Lots of water and Lemon Pepper chicken cutlet on a kaiser. We also talk about our defensive match ups and game plans. 2:30 p.m. - go back to the room and watch a movie on HBO and check my stick to make sure nothing is broken. I sometimes take a nap. 4:30 p.m. - start to get ready to go to the arena. 5:00 p.m. - catch a ride with Jamie Hanford and Jimmy Rogers. Always call "shotgun". 5:30 p.m. - sit next to Tom Marechek in the dressing room and tell old lacrosse stories for a while and then get my ankle taped by Millsy. 6:00 p.m. - get on floor for a shoot around and some passing drills, make sure stick is shooting good. 6:30 p.m. - go back to dressing room and finish putting on all my equipment and drink lots of water and Gatorade. 6:45 p.m. - we go into our line meetings with Tony and Gary to discuss expectations as a line. 7:00 p.m. - pre-game talk with all of team and coaches and go over game plan and key match-ups then go out for official warm up. 7:30 p.m. - get ready to play in front of the best fans in the league. It does not take too much to prepare myself for that. I visualize different aspects of the game during the National Anthem and make sure that when those situations occur I am prepared to respond to them. 7:45 p.m. - the game starts. 10:00 p.m. - game is over and I ice my ankle and take a shower and have a beer. 10:45 p.m. - get back to the hotel and go to Legend's to hang out with all the fans. |