Growing up in the Deep South, fall has always meant one thing: football. Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, all we could think about was football. At least in my family.
Even though I'm no longer in the South, I still do follow my favorite 3 teams: the New Orleans Saints (pro), the LSU Tigers (college) and the Shaw Eagles (high school).
Yes, I still bleed black and gold every Sunday. After 35+ years of chanting "wait till next year," last year's season was nearly the next year that every Saints fan had been waiting for. They made it to the NFC Championship, the best showing of any Saints team in history. And that was after a really bad season during the Katrina aftermath. But this year, everybody was on the Saints bandwagon, thinking they were the Cinderella team of the NFL. Unfortunatetly, my boys in black-n-gold got off to a slow 0-4 start in the '07 season, and I felt like putting my bag over my head again. But, in the last 2 weeks, the Saints have posted wins. And today it was against the "Dirty Birds" of Atlanta, which made the victory even sweeter.
Now LSU has been my college team of choice ever since I was a little kid. Maybe it's because my Dad is a big Tulane fan, and in our neighborhood, you're either a Tiger or a Greenie, and you live to taunt your family members who pull for the wrong team. I did spend some time at LSU, and there was nothing like the electricity of Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night. I was feeling the electricity last night when watching that miraculous touchdown catch with :01 left on the clock. I decided I'm too old for those college antics.
Then, there's the Eagles. No, I didn't go to Shaw, but went to one if its sister schools, Immaculata (Shaw is all boys and IHS was all girls). I was part of the Pep Squad back then, so I wore my green and white uniform with pride each Friday night. These days, I'm following Shaw's undefeated season because my godson is a Freshman at Shaw and plays on varsity. He's second string varsity and first string junior varsity, and is quite the linebacker. I had the pleasure of stopping in New Orleans a few weekends ago to see him play in a Saturday afternoon match. I got all choked up going into the stadium, realizing that not only was I going to see him play but it had been 25+ years since I had been there for a Shaw game - I'm getting old!
This weekend the Eagles knocked off division rival Vandebilt of Houma, who were also undefeated going into the game. Go Eagles!!
So, for my football weekend, it was a winning one. Having all three of my teams win on the same weekend hasn't happened in a long time - I'm just glad it happened again and hope to see it for the next few weeks!
Until next time,
GO SAINTS!
GO TIGERS!
GO EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kel
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