So, sometimes you get smack talk in this post. Sometimes you get talk of beatings we are going to lay down. Sometimes you get hype. Occasionally, you get nerves and excitement. This time, something different. Going to talk a little about what college football means and getting older…
Once upon a time, football was a way for me to be involved with other people and act like a normal person, growing up. It was how I related to my grandpa and dad and uncles and stuff like that. They wouldn’t want to talk about current events, or how the world works, or history or economics or faith or other stuff I was interested in growing up. But, we could always relate to each other over a football game.
Later in life, it became a reason to go “home”, a reason to call or text my friends. I always had a much better pulse on my friend group from August to January- when we text each other during game week about what would happen or game watching, and throw in stuff about engagements, marriages, weddings, divorces, pregnancies, births, jobs, achievements and the like. Relationships that go into hibernation for much of the year become normal again during the football season.
It could be a reason to travel, cut loose, drink, enjoy yourself and put aside responsibilities that turn you from a normal person back into the care free life that you put aside when responsibilities became more pressing.
Now- as I get older, it’s a chance to show my kids the world, build memories that will last forever etc. I always say baseball with its day to day is like background music and a soundtrack to life in that year. Football, however, acts like a calendar that marks years and seasons and the passage of time for me. I love it and getting to take my baby and last child to her first game ever was and seeing the wonder and awe in her face throughout the trip was as good as anything I’ve ever done. That’s how you turn a glorified scrimmage against a shitty ULM team into one of the best gameday experiences of my life.
This is the last time anyone will ever have to indulge my navel gazing asshattery in this space. Seeing our glorious leader @immamacat the tailgate with his 4 year throwing the football was cool as he’s doing that same kind of thing.
On to next week against Mississippi State as the SEC kicks off. They are terrible and we should win convincingly. Then, it’s bye and OU in Dallas which is normal UT fare. I don’t believe we will have our first “welcome to the SEC” moment until we host Georgia. Klan aggy doesn’t interest me any more than corn aggy, or dust bowl aggy ever did. But it’s coming and it’s going to be awesome.
MSU game week stuff happens here. Enjoy this ride fellas.
here’s my daughters first game pregame: