Celebration
Yep, that's Kool and the Gang, for those scoring at home, or if you're by yourself.
Here it is, almost 48 hours later, and I'm still riding the emotional high that came from Georgia Southern's 27-24 win over arch-rival Furman.
Unfortunately, words fail me as I try, two days later, to accurately describe the atmosphere inside the stadium during the game. (And yes, I'm not the first Statesboro Blogger to write about this, see Scott and Stacey's blog for other, and probably better written, perspectives)
We (Yes Dear, Official Brother, myself and a few of Official Brother's friends) got inside the stadium about an hour before kickoff to get our seats near the 35 yard line directly behind the Georgia Southern band. (I apologize, "seats" is misleading as we stood up for the entire game . . . More on that later.)
With more than 20 minutes to go before kickoff, we were begging the football gods to speed time up for kickoff. There was a buzz inside the stadium that I don't recall being there for a regular season game since 1999 when Georgia Southern also played Furman.
When the game finally started, the crowd stayed in the game for all four quarters (a rarity at Georgia Southern where many of the students leave at halftime to go watch UGA play and the "old folks" side usually acts as though they're watching a golf match.)
The Eagles fell behind early 7-0 and 10-7 before taking a 14-10 lead with 8:31 remaining before halftime. Just before the end of the second quarter, the Eagles appeared to have scored another touchdown that would have put them up 21-10, but the officials ruled quaterback Jayson Foster fumbled before crossing the goalline, despite video evidence to the contrary.
This lead to us spending the entire halftime complaining about "H", the head linesman who started to signal touchdown before changing his call and saying it was a fumble. We were less than thrilled at that time and felt it might be necessary to throw a rock at his house, Official Brother's cure-all for any perceived grievance.
Furman rallied after halftime to take a 17-14 lead before the Eagles responded with a touchdown of their own to go ahead 20-17 (we missed the extra point.) Furman scored 5:12 remaining in the third quarter to take a 24-20 lead, setting up the final quarter.
With 8:40 remaining in the game, the Eagles got the ball at their own 13. They proceeded to scare the living daylights out of us by converting on third and fourth downs more than my heart could take.
Facing a 3rd and 17 on the Furman 43, Foster found Chris Dickerson (I realize these names mean nothing to you, I really do) on a 35 yard pass that looked like a wounded duck when it was thrown.
Two plays later, the Eagles scored the go ahead touchdown with only 1:02 remaining, making the score 27-24. At that point, the crowd went nuts. Jumping up and down in the bleachers, high fiving complete strangers who, at that point were as close to you as your best man at your wedding. Guys hugging other guys with no fear of being labed as gay. It was euphoric. Again, words fail me here. If you've experienced that feeling at a sporting event, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, there just aren't words in the English language to adequately describe that moment.
But there was still over a minute to go and Furman has a history of coming back late to win games. However, on a first down from the Georgia Southern 30 (very close to being in range for a game-tying field goal), Georgia Southern's Terrance McBride intercepted an errant pass from the Furman quarterback to seal the win.
More euphoria. More hugging. More jumping up and down. More random high fives. It's those moments that I, as a sports fan, attend games for. You can't replicate those feelings in any other setting and just being a part of it makes it worth all the crappy games you sit though.
In college, most of my friends went to Georgia Southern games without fail. They were as big a fans as I was. Sadly, when they graduated, the moved away and only come to a few games. As we were leaving the stadium, I told Yes Dear "I feel bad for all our friends who didn't bother to come to this game."
Yes Dear was among those who would go to the games with us, but she never really got into the games. For her, it was more of an excuse to get together with her friends and talk while not being inside their apartments. Sure, they'd know if we won or lost, but they weren't ever that into the game. (It's like the book, "He's just not that into you.") She has a general disdain for football and the fact that I revolve my schedule around games irks her to no end.
But Saturday was different. I think, for the first time, she finally understands what it's like to be truly engrossed in a game.
In fact, she summed up everything Saturday night when she said "If all the games were like that, I'd like football."
Fantasy Update: Sure she dated Tom Cruise, but she was smart enough not to be taken in by his wacky Scientology friends. Add to that the fact that she's gorgeous and you've got all the
makings of a Fantasy Update girl . . . one Penelope Cruz. In other fantasy news, the Fighting Squirrels had a decent week, winning 90-87 in one league (making me 7-2 and in first place, by the way), while winning 46-45 in my other league, but not feeling confident, leading to
What I'm hoping for tonight (not involving Yes Dear): I need Brandon Stokley to score the same number of points as the Colts' kicker. Things don't look good for the Squirrels, even with the hiring of Rocket J. Squirrel.
Weekend update: If Saturday was emotionally draining, Sunday was physically draining. Apparently I ate something my stomach was none to thrilled with Saturday night. Without going into much detail, my body spent Sunday ridding itself of anything and everything I'd ate or drank in the past 24 hours, including water. Not good times, but I'm better now.
Desperate Housewives update: There's no way Bree would be dating George this soon after her husband's death. And even if she did, they would not be going on a romantic weekend together. She cares too much about what other people think to do that and her friends certainly wouldn't approve of her moving on so quickly. Susan crying in a wedding dress in the middle of Wisteria Lane was good television as well.
School Update: Despite being done with her thesis, I still haven't seen much of Yes Dear as she's catching up on projects for her other classes. The good news: I've still got control over the television. The bad news: (It's to easy to make a joke here, so I'll let you come up with your own.)
Work update: I thought last Friday was going to be my last one working until midnight. However, Chief Bossman came in and told me he needed me to work again this Friday night. So once again, while you're out having fun and enjoying your weekend, I'll be sitting at a desk praying to the football gods to not let anything go into overtime.
Here it is, almost 48 hours later, and I'm still riding the emotional high that came from Georgia Southern's 27-24 win over arch-rival Furman.
Unfortunately, words fail me as I try, two days later, to accurately describe the atmosphere inside the stadium during the game. (And yes, I'm not the first Statesboro Blogger to write about this, see Scott and Stacey's blog for other, and probably better written, perspectives)
We (Yes Dear, Official Brother, myself and a few of Official Brother's friends) got inside the stadium about an hour before kickoff to get our seats near the 35 yard line directly behind the Georgia Southern band. (I apologize, "seats" is misleading as we stood up for the entire game . . . More on that later.)
With more than 20 minutes to go before kickoff, we were begging the football gods to speed time up for kickoff. There was a buzz inside the stadium that I don't recall being there for a regular season game since 1999 when Georgia Southern also played Furman.
When the game finally started, the crowd stayed in the game for all four quarters (a rarity at Georgia Southern where many of the students leave at halftime to go watch UGA play and the "old folks" side usually acts as though they're watching a golf match.)
The Eagles fell behind early 7-0 and 10-7 before taking a 14-10 lead with 8:31 remaining before halftime. Just before the end of the second quarter, the Eagles appeared to have scored another touchdown that would have put them up 21-10, but the officials ruled quaterback Jayson Foster fumbled before crossing the goalline, despite video evidence to the contrary.
This lead to us spending the entire halftime complaining about "H", the head linesman who started to signal touchdown before changing his call and saying it was a fumble. We were less than thrilled at that time and felt it might be necessary to throw a rock at his house, Official Brother's cure-all for any perceived grievance.
Furman rallied after halftime to take a 17-14 lead before the Eagles responded with a touchdown of their own to go ahead 20-17 (we missed the extra point.) Furman scored 5:12 remaining in the third quarter to take a 24-20 lead, setting up the final quarter.
With 8:40 remaining in the game, the Eagles got the ball at their own 13. They proceeded to scare the living daylights out of us by converting on third and fourth downs more than my heart could take.
Facing a 3rd and 17 on the Furman 43, Foster found Chris Dickerson (I realize these names mean nothing to you, I really do) on a 35 yard pass that looked like a wounded duck when it was thrown.
Two plays later, the Eagles scored the go ahead touchdown with only 1:02 remaining, making the score 27-24. At that point, the crowd went nuts. Jumping up and down in the bleachers, high fiving complete strangers who, at that point were as close to you as your best man at your wedding. Guys hugging other guys with no fear of being labed as gay. It was euphoric. Again, words fail me here. If you've experienced that feeling at a sporting event, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, there just aren't words in the English language to adequately describe that moment.
But there was still over a minute to go and Furman has a history of coming back late to win games. However, on a first down from the Georgia Southern 30 (very close to being in range for a game-tying field goal), Georgia Southern's Terrance McBride intercepted an errant pass from the Furman quarterback to seal the win.
More euphoria. More hugging. More jumping up and down. More random high fives. It's those moments that I, as a sports fan, attend games for. You can't replicate those feelings in any other setting and just being a part of it makes it worth all the crappy games you sit though.
In college, most of my friends went to Georgia Southern games without fail. They were as big a fans as I was. Sadly, when they graduated, the moved away and only come to a few games. As we were leaving the stadium, I told Yes Dear "I feel bad for all our friends who didn't bother to come to this game."
Yes Dear was among those who would go to the games with us, but she never really got into the games. For her, it was more of an excuse to get together with her friends and talk while not being inside their apartments. Sure, they'd know if we won or lost, but they weren't ever that into the game. (It's like the book, "He's just not that into you.") She has a general disdain for football and the fact that I revolve my schedule around games irks her to no end.
But Saturday was different. I think, for the first time, she finally understands what it's like to be truly engrossed in a game.
In fact, she summed up everything Saturday night when she said "If all the games were like that, I'd like football."
Fantasy Update: Sure she dated Tom Cruise, but she was smart enough not to be taken in by his wacky Scientology friends. Add to that the fact that she's gorgeous and you've got all the
makings of a Fantasy Update girl . . . one Penelope Cruz. In other fantasy news, the Fighting Squirrels had a decent week, winning 90-87 in one league (making me 7-2 and in first place, by the way), while winning 46-45 in my other league, but not feeling confident, leading toWhat I'm hoping for tonight (not involving Yes Dear): I need Brandon Stokley to score the same number of points as the Colts' kicker. Things don't look good for the Squirrels, even with the hiring of Rocket J. Squirrel.
Weekend update: If Saturday was emotionally draining, Sunday was physically draining. Apparently I ate something my stomach was none to thrilled with Saturday night. Without going into much detail, my body spent Sunday ridding itself of anything and everything I'd ate or drank in the past 24 hours, including water. Not good times, but I'm better now.
Desperate Housewives update: There's no way Bree would be dating George this soon after her husband's death. And even if she did, they would not be going on a romantic weekend together. She cares too much about what other people think to do that and her friends certainly wouldn't approve of her moving on so quickly. Susan crying in a wedding dress in the middle of Wisteria Lane was good television as well.
School Update: Despite being done with her thesis, I still haven't seen much of Yes Dear as she's catching up on projects for her other classes. The good news: I've still got control over the television. The bad news: (It's to easy to make a joke here, so I'll let you come up with your own.)
Work update: I thought last Friday was going to be my last one working until midnight. However, Chief Bossman came in and told me he needed me to work again this Friday night. So once again, while you're out having fun and enjoying your weekend, I'll be sitting at a desk praying to the football gods to not let anything go into overtime.
posted by Luke at 6:00 PM
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