Go Green! Go Gold!

I'm not quite sure where my lack of desire to watch sporting events started. My dad is an avid fan of most sporting events. He played high school football and, from what I understand, he was actually pretty good. I even played t-ball and soccer when I was younger. Oh the Green Machine! Up until a few years ago, I'd moan or even leave the room if someone else turned on a football game or especially a basketball game. Yuck!

When I moved to Louisiana, though, football is a season. We are told there are three seasons here. The year starts out with Crawfish season, then moves into Hurricane season and then Football season. Of course, LSU football is an event; or at least watching it is. People will start tailgating at LSU the day before. LSU campus becomes a busy maze of tents and purple shirts with smells of every kind of southern food you could desire. Even if you don't tailgate, the city of Baton Rouge buzzes on game day with excitement and anticipation. It's almost laughable but you get roped in, or at least I did. I found myself watching football for the first time...and enjoying it. The camaraderie is amazing. These people know the players individually as if they were professional. It's astounding. This isn't just LSU football, though. However, it is the largest and grossest example but definitely not the only school.

And this is where you find me today. I've just started at Southeastern Louisiana University and I attended my first football game as a student. It was a great game. We played UT-Martin and SLU held up against the Hawks. It was way fun and I really enjoyed it. We sat in the student section (not nearly as crazy as the LSU student section) right next to the band, who deserve a honorable and genuine recognition-they were very good!

Change gears with me. I became very emotional yesterday when I woke up and flipped on the TV and saw the replay of the news coverage for the attacks from 9/11/01. I remember vividly driving home that morning from a church meeting and listening to some random babble about building being crashed into and not understanding what happened. I walked inside the house and my dad was watching the news coverage and I just stood in the doorway and couldn't move. It was surreal. Yesterday was great, though. A time to remember. The SLU band played a tribute to all armed forces at halftime and I was extremely touched. Thanks to all who daily sacrifice time and energy for my safety!