Autumn Kickoff

Football Season. The most wonderful time of the year. Well, at least in my house. This morning I woke up to 50 degree weather and dreams of running backs dancing in my head.

Since I was in the womb (no exaggeration here) the Fall was a season sanctified solely for football, not just the mere act of watching it but living and breathing it as well. My dad was a walk-on kicker at the University of South Carolina for his first two years and he's been addicted ever since. Our most fond memories have been in section 804 of Williams-Brice stadium rooting on our beloved Gamecocks.

Somehow, I became the Prodigal son and left not only the university but the state in 2005. After only missing 5 home games my entire life, I've missed all but one the past five years. In a way, the mourning never ceases because each approaching season reopens those wounds.

Yet technology has allowed me to not miss a snap. But while the actual game is what gathers us, it was the pageantry surrounding it that kept us coming back. I attended every single sold-out home game in the midst of a 21-game losing streak not because I was riveted by the product on the field but because I loved the people around me.

I cherished eating my weight in wings in between tossing the football with my buddy Rivers. I lived to make the rounds between fraternity tailgating lots, my dads' spot, and the cockabooses. The fare varied from kegs of beer to crab cakes to frogmore stew. Even if the cocks fell flat, the party never would.

But beneath all the fan-fare was an ache to see our boys finally live up to our other-worldly expectations. There were moments when they made us believe, players like Sterling and Sidney, but despite our flirtations they never got the girl. Until now.

Today we embark on a totally new experience for any gamecock fan. We are the defending East champions and have been predicted to not only reclaim that title, but according to some we have a good shot to play for it all. I keep pinching myself waiting to wake up from this dream. And maybe I will tonight, but I don't think I will. This will be a season that I will always remember even if it is with a clause of "if we'd just hit the tight end, he was wide open" because it has taught me to hope again.

And I know that our school and our passion is not unique, that across campuses nation-wide today others will be carrying out their own traditions wondering if this year could be the one, wondering if the drinking they'll be doing tonight will be in celebration or to drown their sorrows. But of course, if your team is playing the Gamecocks, there is always next year.

Go Cocks!!!