University of Minnesota Athletics
Burns Blog: Travel Trouble
4/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
University of Minnesota head men's gymnastics coach Mike Burns chronicles the Gophers' trip to West Point, N.Y. for GopherSports.com in the latest edition of the Burns Blog.
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We left Bierman this morning at 8 a.m. to catch a 10:10 Delta Flight out of MSP. The plan for today was to arrive in Newark, N.J. at 2 p.m. and drive to West Point, N.Y. and have our first training session around 6 p.m. at the Holleder Center at the US Military Academy.
When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted with the ever-popular news: "Your flight to Newark has been delayed." Great!!!
Apparently, the flight that originated in Dallas had to be cancelled (not really sure why but there has to be some technical reason that's above my pay scale!) and they were now on the lookout for a new flight crew. This translated into a two-hour delay. Great!!!!
9:30 a.m.:
"What about the 10 am flight to Laguardia?" we asked.
"We can't switch all 17 of you to that flight in 30 minutes," they replied.
10:10 a.m.:
"What about the 10:40 am flight to JFK?" we asked.
"We can't switch all 17 of you to that flight in 30 minutes."
By this time, Delta supervisor Perry and I are turning into "good buddies."
10:45 a.m.:
Perry is explaining to Gary, our gate agent, the details of our original flight that is now coming in from Nashville and is going to land at MSP at 11:20 a.m. and head out to Newark at 11:59 a.m.
After listening to these details from Perry, Gary asks the ultimate question: "When will I get my lunch break?"
Needless to say I was warmed by Gary's concern for our travel troubles.
As the steam slowly seeped from my ears, I decided to smile and just go with the flow and realize that we will actually get to West Point today. We will actually get to train at the Holleder Center today. We will get done what we need to get done.
Sometimes there are things we can't control so it's best to just accept those things and focus on the ones we can control. When we eventually get to the Holleder Center and get to our training session we will focus on our gymnastics and what we want to accomplish at the 2010 NCAA Championships this week at West Point.
And sometimes things might happen for a reason.
Because of our delay at the airport I was actually able to spend about five minutes with my older brother Dan, who just happened to be on a layover on his way to Spokane, Wash. from Boston. He is on his way to a National Conference of Deacons.
I rushed over to Gate F13 from Gate D1 and I actually jumped on one of those golf carts that transport people who need some assistance around the airport (I had to show him my AARP card and gave him a $2 tip!). It was worth the $2 since I hadn't seen my brother since Christmas. Gate F13 was further away from D1 than I thought!
We are about to land in Newark so it's time to sign off. More to come after the next exciting chapter of our trip!-Mike Burns
