Life's Good

Okay, so life is always good, even when it isn't, but there's something about football season that just gets me going. Bama blew past West Carolina (not a big surprise), and although I was happy for the win I don't take it as proof that we're gonna dominate the rest of the season. Our next game is Vandy (who some folks seem to be discounting, but they have been emerging these past several years as a spoiler), and then the Grudge Match against Arkansas.

Yep -- the same Arkansas to whom we lost in OT the day of my son's wedding last year. One of the groomsmen was kind enough to provide me with a TV so that I could watch it in that tent at the reception. It was painful.

There were bigger sports stories this weekend than Bama's "V" and Auburn's last minute HEY, I THINK WE'RE SUPPOSED TO PLAY NOW "V" and even bigger than Michigan gettin' slapped by Appalachian State.

That story was the Virginia Tech/East Carolina University game.

The campus at VTech was the scene, you'll recall, of the the murderous spree of a mentally ill student that left 32 people dead. Caring about the football season seems stupid in the face of that, but for those of us who love the things about college ball that have nothing to do, really, with the game on the field, we understand why this game was so important.

It's the same reason that, after a week or so of deference, the return of college football in the autumn of 2001 was a small step on the way to healing. Life does go on -- the meaningful parts, to be sure, but also the parts that amuse, entertain, and provide diversion.

It was the athletes from East Carolina University who really get my admiration. It had to be in the back of their minds that this could be their chance -- and they gave the Hokies an awful good run for it. Those players couldn't have walked onto the field in the middle of all that visceral emotion and not felt it, and it reminds me a little of last year's game against Marshall.

Yes, THAT Marshall. The one whose entire team was killed in an airplane crash in 1970, following a game against, yes, East Carolina. These teams have played since, but last year's game fell just days before the anniversary of that horrible night, and just before the opening of the heavily advertised movie (which, BTW, was worth the watch), so the eyes of the nation were on that game, and those eyes were filled with tears.

They met that day with class, honoring the memory of that Marshall team with the placement of a commemorative plaque at ECU's football stadium. These two teams will always share an emotional history, and if it doesn't change each team's desire to win it does remind them -- and should remind us -- that what is achingly important for 60 minutes on a Saturday afternoon isn't all that important beyond those four quarters.

What I love about college football is the community it creates among those of us who love it, and the stories that emerge every weekend that become rightful fodder for reflection.

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On another note, yesterday was my husband's 55th birthday. He still makes my heart flutter.

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And on another note, I finally got a new cellphone. It's so pretty! It's Roll Tide Red, and although it's not, like, an iPhone or anything, I can take pictures with it, and once again I can download real music onto it to use for ringtones. I'm hopeful that GeekSon can help me figure out how to Bluetooth a copy of "Magic Carpet Ride" onto it to use for when Henry calls me, and I'm having a grand time coming up with other tunes for other people.

But the best part is that after using a Cracker Jack Box replacement cellphone for months, I can finally HEAR the people on the other end again!!!

Yep. Simple pleasures -- Saturday football games, a handsome fella to share my sofa with, downloaded ringtones, hearing a friend's voice -- are the best.