40th anniversary of First College Game

Since I'm happy to be celebrating anything these days, I'm taking a few extra seconds next Sunday because it's the 40th anniversary of my first Bethune-Cookman game.

For the record it was a 24-6 victory over Alabama State, Bernard Hawk had a good day at quarterback, the band was amazing and I freaked out that they had Church's Chicken for us in the press box.

My question for this good board is should I do a little bit more on social media because let's face it, I've had a heck of a run covering this University football program. I've had just enough of NFL related stories to satisfy the soul, but there have been so many good stories to tell.

I've had my share of flowers from the fellow SIDs on on my birthday and my return to campus, so I just want to know what you guys think is appropriate.

Once again thank you all for your support...

 

Sure, why not. Take pride in your work with B-C.

An aside: Not sure if you traveled, but you may have been there for this. I was covering the Georgia Southern football team for the college paper in 2002-03, and we hosted B-C one year in the I-AA playoffs in 2002. I can't remember much about the game other than the fact GS won.

What I do remember is the B-C band showed up in maybe three buses not long after the game started. From the press box, I could see across the field and see band member after band member after band member stream into the stands -- probably at least 200. My now wife was in the GS marching band, and she says that was the one time they felt like they were outmatched by a visiting band inside Paulson Stadium.

 

34-0 ass kicking. But it was an early kickoff and my family and I went over to Savannah and made a night out of it....

 

Yes, share on social media. If we don't share the good things that happen to us, nobody else will. I (unexpectedly) won a teaching award last semester, and debated about letting my fellow faculty members know. But then I remembered emails I've gotten from some of them bragging about this or that, so I sent an email to everyone in my department, and then up the food chain a bit to include the dean of my academic area, and it was well-received.

 

Congrats! Obviously you had the skills to move on to another, bigger (I did not say better) position, hopefully they appreciate your loyalty.

As Mike Riley always said when he turned down many a job while having success at OSU in the 2000s, "Don't mess with happy."

 

Oh, I did move...but I came back...and then came back again.

 

My first high school football game that I wrote was 30 years ago this year. Seven years later I covered a Cowboys game.

 

Two of the best experiences in my career were 1) covering High School football games in the Old Texas Stadium 2) a lacrosse game in the Old Texas stadium featuring a Philadelphia team and what made the story was how much all the players hated the Cowboys

 

They stuck us in the auxiliary box for that 2000 game, which was the game that Aikman got planted for good and Tom Coughlin cheated the firing squad when Felipe Sparks couldn't hang on to a Jaguar's toe in overtime.

But Texas Stadium hosted a vast number of famous prep playoff games too. I covered the last one as well: Game 555 between Celina and Carthage for the 3A championship. I have the credential somewhere in my stash.