Football. Need I say more?

Halle-booyah!! It's the first Saturday of college football! Happy, happy, day.

The only things adversely affecting my ability to enjoy this holy day to its fullest are:

1. I'm having to focus my attention largely on the online defensive driving course I'm taking as I try to keep up with the numerous games on TV at any given time today (Let's not worry about why I have to take defensive driving. Just assume that it's not for the insurance discount.). The good news is that my spiffy new DSL connection even makes it possible for me to do defensive driving while sitting on my couch in front of the TV. Count your blessings where you find them.

2. I sold my UT game tickets because I was going to go out of town this weekend. It's Labor Day weekend, and I thought it'd be nice to take a long weekend as a mini-vacation somewhere. I could watch the game on TV. But thanks to the ticket that led to my defensive driving and my new washer purchase, my budget didn't really support a mini-vacation anymore. And now I find out the UT game is only on pay-per-view! Sonofab... Okay. I'll listen to the radio broadcast. It'll be old school.

Despite my bad fortune with tickets and pay-per-view and whatnot, I'm enjoying my first marathon day of college football. I got to see Appalachian State take out Michigan, which is unfrigginbelievable. And Virginia Tech has now gotten their first game of the season out of the way, and they won, so maybe now we can stop having 24-hour coverage of "Virginia Tech: After The Tragedy." Probably not. No disrespect intended. I can just see that this will be like LSU after Katrina. Their entire season is going to be one continual rehash of the tragedy they experienced. "Hokies score! This will help them forget the tragedy. Here's a video tribute, though, so you won't." Before the game. Time-outs. Half-time. After the game. All season. Oy.

I realize it's recent, so right now, the Va Tech community probably appreciates the attention and the media favor. But I have to assume they will eventually get like UT did about the Tower Shooter - so beyond sick of hearing about it and so sick of people only seeming to know that about you. I hate to tell you guys, Va Tech, but it ain' nevuh goin' to go away. From now until forever, it's going to come up when anyone talks about mass murderers, gun control, college campus crime, mental health, your school in any capacity - someone will probably find a way to work it into a conversation about Fedex, NBC and Pho noodles eventually. And you'll grit your teeth. But I digress.

Back to football. I've watched pieces of I don't know how many games so far today. I intend to continue that into the night. God bless the PAC-10 and their games that start around the time I'm usually going to bed. My, how I love this time of year. :)