Like, total sensory overload! Holy smokes!!! The NCAA football season has begun; I can’t believe it’s already here, but it’s great. Where I live in North Carolina – the best place there is – there are so many schools to follow. And they’re all playing so well right now! It makes me so proud to see that, not only are the teams doing so well, but that all the fans are really getting in to it. Rabid, in fact! There’s so much excitement, it’s in Technicolor!
College football is so huge, I can’t even keep my head straight sometimes. I don’t even know how anyone can keep all of them straight. There’s like 1,200 or so schools in the NCAA. How can you figure out who’s really deserving of a top 25 ranking, let alone a #1 or #2 spot? OY! That’s making me dizzy… I need to stop thinking so hard! HAHA!!
The league is important though. They used to play college sports without a sanctioned league, and that created all kinds of problems. The problems got to be so big – things like injuries and disagreements over rules – that they reached up all the way to the President of the United States!
In 1906 Teddy Roosevelt saw, firsthand, the problems with college athletics when his son was hurt playing football at school. From that experience he got the big schools together and made changes to create the governing body, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States. Today it’s the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA, and most often pronounced “N-C-Double-A”). Aint it amazing the things you learn from paying attention in American History?!?!
So… I love the sport, but my favorite part is tailgating before the games. Even driving to the stadium is always an adventure… First off, I get up real early and go outside to get the car all decked out with my teams NCAA sports flags. If I’m gonna stand in the parking lot for a couple hours before the game, I’m making sure everyone knows who I’m rooting for! LOL! I clip on my NCAA teams car flags to the windows, and fix my magnets to the doors. It’s awesome when everyone beeps their horns on the way to the stadium, throwing a thumbs-up my way.
When we get to the lot, I get the big NCAA team flag and drape it over the car. Yeah, I know, right?! But tailgating is some serious business! After that, we get out the big stuff! The grill and the event tent I had custom made with the team colors are tailgating staples. You can’t eat hot dogs without a grill (mmmmm…. hot dogs!), and you can’t put out your serving tables unless you have an event tent. That’s not reeeeally a rule, but that’s how I like it!
Grilling up some hot dogs next to the tent, playing a game of washers, and enjoying the sea of people, all doing the same thing I’m doing. Rows and rows of cars with car flags, tents, and people grilling up all kinds of delicious food, all waiting to cheer on our team. There’s no better way to spend a Saturday in the fall. Unless of course your team plays a game on Thursday night! LOL!
Lexi
