The Return of the Canes

I've said this before about myself: I wish I got excited about ballet, classical music, or even good dramas. I appreciate all of those, but the only thing that truly stands up the hair on my neck is Hurricanes football, and tonight is the first game.

I try to recreate, on a smaller scale, the away game day activities of one of my life's mentors, Ed Perse. Ed had grand game watching parties in a wonderfully decorated game room, complete with a model train that circled the room when UM scored, and a whole array of pinball machines and bleacher seats.

My favorite memories were meeting the freshman players, back when the NCAA allowed team boosters like Ed to host them at parties (the freshmen didn't travel with the team to away games). I met a goofy, curly haired kid named Bernie Kosar, and a huge young man named Jerome Brown.

Later, when D1 was born, she would toddle around the game room as we watched. Ed would sit in his "control chair," which was an antique barber's chair, with an electric megaphone. D1 toddled in fron of the TV screen, and a booming voice came from above firmly but sweetly asking her to move aside. D1 looked skyward, as if, at 13 months old, she was hearing the command of the Lord.

Well, I have a smaller game watching room, but I do have some actual seats from the old Orange Bowl, along with some Canes memorabilia. We open tonight at FSU, a big rival.

Wifey and D2 are on their way home from Gainesville, and should arrive before kickoff, assuming Wifey doesn't travel via Atlanta.

Ed's son Mike is coming over, along with his son Chris. That's one of the things I love about Canes football --the generations that all fall in love, watching with their parents. D1 is at UF, and isn't much of a football fan, but I know she's a Cane at heart. Same with D2.

So, I'll be eating pizza and drinking beer for the first time in my 2 month low carb attempt to regain a somewhat human form. I truly hope the Canes win, and start their new climb to excellence. But, win or lose, watching the game with my football friends, analyzing plays, and shouting at the TV --well, it takes me away, mentally, even more than a European vacation.

So, I probably will see a ballet or two, and enjoy some fine music, but for now --Go Canes!