Just a Game

Written by: Coach
Many of you may or may not know this about me: I am a bit of a sports nut. I have always had a passion for sports. I love watching, playing and coaching sports. Over the years I have grown to love a variety of different sports including soccer, volleyball, ping-pong, water polo and many others. My two loves, however, have always been and probably always will be basketball and football. Among the two, basketball reigns supreme. I have played basketball all my life and have been coaching the sport to junior varsity and varsity teams since 2002.

Growing up in the South meant that one such as me absolutely HAD to follow a SEC football team. I grew up in a family that bled orange and blue and early on decided that I would too. I can still remember my first Auburn football experience. I was 8 years old my first time inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. At the time I thought that it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen (other than the first time I held my baby sister Samantha in my arms). Since that September day in 1989, I have been a die hard Auburn football fan and have never even lived outside of the state of Alabama during football season. All that has changed, to say the least. At first I was extremely frustrated that the Taiwanese did not see the importance of college football and never offered any games on ESPN. Then I discovered that I was not able to watch any live feeds of the games or even a radio broadcast on the internet. Furthermore, even if I wanted to watch a ticker play-by-play of Auburn games I would have to stay up at the wee hours of Sunday morning. You can imagine then how much more frustrated I became when Auburn began to plummet while Saban quickly rebuilt the Tide to be a powerhouse!

Now, if I was in the U.S. right now, I would be stressed out about the Georgia game clinging to some hope that we can pull off a huge upset against our long time SEC rival. If I was in Alabama I would have watched every game to the bitter end as if that really made a difference. As if Coach Tubs keeps a tally of all the fans who watch every single minute of every single game. I would be screaming at the television every time they turn the ball over (and that has been a lot this year). I would celebrate every touchdown like someone who actually scored it himself.

In Taiwan I feel as if something has finally clicked and I suddenly realize that Auburn will win and lose games whether I am at the game, in my Alabama townhome or my apartment in Taiwan. The point is to enjoy the sport because it is a great game with a lot of drama, color and passion. I can enjoy college football even in a year which I can’t even watch one live game. I can enjoy it when Auburn is 5-5, Bama is 10-0 and is probably going to play for the national championship! My attitude or mood before and after games will never have an impact on how good or bad a season ends up for my beloved Tigers. It is crazy that I am 28 and just now arriving at these conclusions but then again, I know many SEC football fans that will probably never understand what I am writing in this blog and that is totally OK. I am just glad (for my wife’s sake) that I can be a fanatic fan and still just appreciate the game for what it is…..a game.