GAME DAY!!

It's finally here! This evening at 8 o'clock our hometown South Florida Bulls will square off against the West Virginia Mountaineers in a nationally televised football game. In attendance at this sporting spectacle will be over 65,000 fans occupying every available seat in Raymond James Stadium, otherwise the home field for our pro football team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The entire Tampa Bay area is a buzz with football fever in anticipation of this match up between these two Big East football teams. The Bulls are ranked 18th in the national pools and the Mountaineers come in ranked number 7. Last season we traveled to their home field and beat them soundly, knocking them out of a shot for the Big East title and a shot at a major end of season bowl game. This is a "revenge" game for them and they will be in a decidedly fowl mood. Bring it on!

I have become invested in the fate of USF as this is where my daughter attends college as a senior. She is solely responsible for creating a special 2007 "Back the Bulls" t-shirt that all of the students attending home football games are encouraged to wear to visually show their support and allegiance to the team. For her efforts the athletic department has hired her as a student intern with a promise to be placed on staff in a permanent position upon her graduation this coming May. Mama and Papa are very proud not only of her marketing skills, but the manner in which she has conducted herself and evolved as a student and a responsible young woman.

So...hopefully the stars will align themselves this evening and a victory for the "Bulls" will result. I certainly won't lose any sleep if the outcome should be otherwise, but it will be a more restful and contented repose if we can lodge a win in our column. The bottom line is that it is only a game played by young men in their late teens and early twenties. The fate of mankind certainly does not hang in the balance regardless of the outcome. But for a couple of hours it's just fun to get caught up in all of the hoopla and pageantry that accompanies a major college sporting event. Tomorrow will be soon enough for all of us to again place the weight of this crazy world on our shoulders. "GO BULLS!!"