Ok, it's still a few weeks away, but football season is almost back and I can hardly wait! Besides Christmas, it's my favorite time of year! For me, it's the LSU Tigers. Always has been. But since moving
to the Big Country last year, West Texas High School Football is now part of the fun, too!
It starts at the beginning of the week when viewers begin
voting on Bigcountryhomepage.com for the team of the week. Last year there
were some very close polls and hundreds if not thousands of people logged on
to vote for their favorites! Then Friday arrives and there's such a frenzy a
round the station. Everyone wearing their Friday night football BCH shirts.
Cameras and cars organized for the dozens of folks heading out to shoot highlights of
all the games.
At about 7:30pm I assume my position at the assignments desk and start collecting the scores. We have a huge dry erase board where we keep up with them, constantly adding updated scores to our website, Facebook and Twitter. It takes about 4 of us to do it! We shout back and forth the numbers and quarters. It's so much fun!
Inevitably there's an elusive score we can't find. Most of
the time the result of a loud crowd preventing our
contacts in the field from answering their phones,
but by the time David Robinett hits the air, we've got them all!
That's my Friday and it's a huge rush of excitement. Then on Saturday it's Tiger Time!
I try to make as many LSU home games as I can. It's a chance to visit with my family and friends who are all there decked out in purple and gold. I should be exhausted after working late Friday night, then getting up to catch the first flight out of Abilene at 5:45am. But as soon as I land in Baton Rouge, the adrenaline starts pumping and I'm ready for the day. The buzz of the crowds roaming campus. The aroma of gumbo and jambalaya wafting through the air. The Golden Band from Tigerland marching the streets - like a mini-parade. It's a celebration like no other.
Sure, there are rituals similar to this going on in college towns across the nation at the same time. But this is MY team and it's so much fun to be right
in the middle of it all.
LSU has been fortunate to have had some really good seasons over the last few years, including two National Championship teams in 2003 and
2007! But I've been spending my fall Saturdays like this since I was a little girl. I've rejoiced in the victories and lamented in the losses (and there were quite a few of those back when I was in college). But I still go. No
matter what we're ranked or how we're playing. Because I love football. And I can't imagine that ever changing.
