One of my great pleasures from the past college football season was being able to attend four college football games with my family. While none of the games had any bearing on any conference or national title race--not even close--they all supplied an afternoon of fun and some exciting football (yes media, college football is fun even if the teams involved will not sniff a BCS bowl game).
First up, Virginia's rout of Richmond on Labor Day weekend. With school approaching--daughter Pilar was about to begin second grade--we took off for a mini vacation to Virginia. While the trip included plenty of activities that Pili counts among her favorites, from Busch Gardens to Monticello to the ponies at Chincoteague, the day spent at UVA's beautiful campus was up there with the rest. The Cavs looked good that day, but it was not a sign of things to come for the Wahoo. That game proved to be the only clinker of the four we attended.
Next up, two weeks later, was a trip to the alma mater. Fordham is not only where I went to college, but where I met my beautiful wife Ginny and where I began my sports writing career as a staff member and later editor of The Ram. Ginny and I had an early pre-date at a Fordham football game (due to inclement weather we were the only two of an expected group of friends to go to a game in 1985 and began dating soon after) and so the stadium has a little extra meaning for the two of us. And on this date, 9/15/12, the Rams were battling Cornell, a school that has educated generations of Ginny's family and so there was a little extra juice for us Ram fans. But Big Red did not take into account the passion of seven-year-old Pilar Guido, who cheered on the Rams to a 34-27 victory. Fordham delighted the homecoming crowd with 28 second half points as the combination of QB Ryan Higgins and RB Carlton Koonce was too much for the visitors. Brother-in-law Larry Somma, Cornell '88, cowardly did not answer his phone after the game.
Pili was excited now and with FU playing the following week up the road from our Washington Heights apartment, at Columbia's home field on the northern tip of Manhattan, we made a last-second decision to head to the game. I am somewhat embarassed to say that without proper time to plan a tailgate, I mixed some vodka with a couple of my daughter's juice boxes. That cocktail got my wife and I through a ho hum first half. Fordham won a tough game, and with it the Liberty Cup, as Koonce rambled for 250y and 2 TDs. The Rams were now 3-1 and--if only it counted for something--2-0 versus the Ivies.
Game four involved a trip north to West Point, as the struggling Cadets hosted the struggling Boston College Eagles. It was a crisp fall day and the wonderful campus and an exciting second half made up for our missing most of the first one. We were joined by friends Moira and Benjamin and the five of us had a great time. Army rallied for an exciting 34-31 victory with QB Trent Steelman rushing for a 29y TD right up the BC gut with less than a minute remaining. The kids, Pilar and Ben, enjoyed the action on the field when not taking pictures of the mules, marvelling at the push-up doing Cadets, covering their ears when the cannons blasted or taking food runs. That the game was exciting, if not particularly well-played, was a bonus.
I attended other games without my wife and daughter but had my most fun with them. It was good to share with them the sport that takes up so much of my life. And Pilar really enjoyed Notre Dame's stunning run to the BCS title game, cheering on her favorite player Manti Te'o. The other day she mentioned going to 12 games next season so I had better begin planning.
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