Seriously, where do I begin with this?
Football has so many different emotions and feelings and memories that it is hard to write a coherent piece without jumping from here and there.
As I teach this semester, I love hearing about games and plays and moments from my boys in class who play this awesome sport. And I love encouraging them to soak up every moment like it's going to be their last.
To be honest, football isn't even my favorite sport.
Basketball is, and I could play it all day every day.
Golf and Baseball (well I play softball cause I'm old) and Volleyball are up there as well.
But there is something so special about football.
And I can't quite put my finger on it, nor am I going to try to.
I'll save that for Rudy, Remember the Titans, and College GameDay.
But I think I'm happy knowing that I have been blessed to play the sport.
SO many people watch it, keep up with it, play it on a console or fantasy, document and read about it, follow it, and are generally mad about it.
But they don't know it like I do.
They don't know about it like me and my brothers do.
They don't know about 6 am practices and coaches yelling in your face.
About the Oklahoma drill or that feeling you get when the coach says you're running another one because someone didn't run all the way through the line.
About crushing defeats, and awesome victories.
About film room jokes, and studying plays and film at home instead of homework.
About position and team dinners and bus rides.
About the god-awful stench and chocolate milk and peanut butter sandwiches after practice.
About showers before school with that one weird dude and running out of the helmet, feeling like the biggest thing in the world as thousands cheer your name.
About losing a state championship, and winning one.
About working hard and striving to be the best you can be.
About learning from great men, who teach you more than just how to block or catch a ball.
Yeah, the truth is most people don't know about real football.
But we do. The ones who have played it. And that sport, no matter if you are still playing it today, or you are watching your grandson play it as a first-grader, that sport will always means something more than a trophy could ever describe.
Although it's always nice to have a trophy and ring.
Here's to the boys of fall and the best sport of all time.
