Day 1 - leave Ithaca at 7:30 pm headed for NJ.  Cold light rain.  Trying to avoid the snow due after midnight.  The question I'm asking is why?   Why leave the warmth of home on a cold winter night, into the dark, into the rain?  Why travel across the country to kick a ball around on a field in the desert?  Answers come and go.  This game since I've played since I'm 8 is just way in me.  I love running around, getting the ball, giving the ball, running without the ball, running with the ball. I love stopping and holding the ball, then moving again.  I love good short passes.  I love the camaraderie.  I love winning, but I don't mind losing.  Gary Weiss's rules of winning come to me:  You win if you don't hurt yourself, if you don't hurt someone else, and if you break a sweat.  The rain lets up, it's dry through PA, and then a fog settles in over NJ.  I get to Jay's just before midnight and crash.