Eat 'Em Up

(I felt the need to write, which happens like once every two years, so here it is. It's about friends, football and allegiances.)

Despite not playing a competitive down past fifth grade, I can honestly say football has given me a lot. It gave me a part-time job at one point, it helped me meet my wife and it's given me countless friends and memories.

The same could probably be said if I had hobbies like snowboarding or bird watching instead of attending college football games, but here we are. Those of you I've met, we probably met at a football game or watching one on TV.

I love college football because of the camaraderie and that camaraderie typically comes out of allegiances. Mine include the Hokies, my alma mater in Norman and a random FCS team that has made its way to the semifinals tonight.

I crossed paths with Kevin and Charlie when a mutual friend of ours called me one morning offering an extra ticket to that night's TCU-Oregon State game at AT&T Stadium. It was a three-hour drive and I was out the door about 15 minutes later. Hell, they were club seats.

Kevin, Charlie and I bonded over a shared sense of humor, college football and most importantly, making fun of our friend Todd. We crossed paths again at another game later that season and then once again the next season when their Bearkats made the FCS title game.

I got to meet their Bearkat friends, Sam Houston's staff and fell in love with the team. They had a gravely voiced coach out of central casting in Willie Fritz, a star running back from near my hometown in Timothy Flanders and the most Texasy pair of Texan radio broadcasters that you really had to hear to believe. I was hooked.

Since then I've watched the Kats on TV as much as I've watched the Hokies. It's just as stressful. Over the last seven years they've scored a lot of points, but have given up a bunch, too. They have a history of building huge leads and then hanging on for dear life as those leads dwindle. Kats football is a roller coaster ride, especially in December.

I've also logged a lot of miles to see my friends and see the Kats play. Last year I drove two hours and sat in subfreezing temperatures while getting called a m---------er by several drunken college students so I could watch them lose by a billion points. It was fine.

The original core group of Flanders, Brian Bell, Richard Sincere, Darius Taylor and others never got by North Dakota State. The Bison are the same obstacle facing the current group of Jeremiah Briscoe, Corey Avery, Yedi Louis, P.J. Hall and coach K.C. Keeler. If this stupid team were ever going to get by the Bison and get another shot at the title, this feels like it has to be the team to do it. There's a lot of seniors on that roster.

College football and the Kats have given me great friends, great memories and a rooting interest in a random FCS game on a random Friday night in December. Maybe they'll get by the Bison and move on to the next stop on their revenge tour. Or maybe the Fargodome will be too much again and the Bison faithful will get another chance to drink Frisco dry. Either way, Kevin, Charlie and I will trade texts and tweets and look forward to the next time we can watch football together and make fun of Todd.

#EatEmUpKats