Are you ready for some football?

I'm working for the athletic department now as a tutor in sign language, and as an employee, one of the perks is free tickets to the game for me and one other (very restricted, not even all immediate family members qualify) person. So Peter and I are going to our very first, and possibly last, big time university football game. I medium-enjoy sporting events, though I always have much more fun cheering and groaning with the crowds than actually really following the game (since I usually have no idea what's going on). The real reason I really really wanted to go to game is because our mascot is a real live buffalo and the tradition is to run her into the field with the entire football team behind her to start the game. Doesn't that sound cool? Plus, one of Peter's classmates is one of the selected few Ralphie handlers, which means he gets to lead her onto the field and help care for her (it's a her because female buffalo are smaller and slightly easier to handle, which is rather important).

It's also fun that we are finally going to a game because we live so close to the stadium that we can track the success (or not, this season) of the team by the noise of the crowd. When I hear a really long, extended cheer, I usually run upstairs to the bedroom window, get out the binoculars and check the scoreboard to see if we scored. The picture on the left is of the scoreboard the only time we've won this season. I'm hoping we'll be a good luck charm today! We're so close that they sell spaces in our parking lot for tailgaters, so it's fun to walk around and see how crazy people get, but it's also annoying because we feel like we can't leave on game days because we're never sure if they'll sell all the spots, leaving us with no where to park. But after being on the outside so many times, it'll be fun to be on the inside for once!