Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong

College Memories

Where did you go to college? Did you go to a school with a big sports program? I didn’t. I went to UC Santa Barbara, a school more famous for burning a Bank of America in 1971 than their sports programs. We have no football team. The Gauchos’ claim in the college sports world pretty much boils down to baseball and water polo with some brief moments in the bottom levels of the NCAA basketball tourney. Anyway, since it’s college bowl season and the big BCS Championship game is tonight, I definitely feel like I missed something from my college experience by going to a school with no real sports program. And I do acknowledge that I’m probably the only person walking the planet who pretty much hated going to UCSB. I know I got a good education and I have no issues with that, but I always felt that I was missing “something” in my college experience. Growing up a die-hard, devoted LA Kings fan, I should’ve realized that sports is a pretty big part of my life. I went to visit some friends freshman year who went to Arizona State and went to a Sun Devils game. That was awesome. I didn’t need to be in a sorority or a cool dorm or anything. When you’re in a stadium on a Saturday afternoon rooting for YOUR team, you’re cool and it starts a life long devotion and rooting interest in your team. I didn’t get that from my college experience. I suppose it’s the one thing I really regret so when I hear people talk about their kids going to college, I always bring up the sports program. If that’s something that interests the kid, then that’s something to consider when selecting a college.

My ex-fiance is an Ohio State Buckeyes insane fanatic. Words cannot describe the insanity that would prevail on college football Saturdays. Up at 8AM to watch ESPN Game Day, pacing the room watching 3-4 games in a day, talking on the phone to armchair quarterback the Buckeyes. And heaven help the world (okay, me) if the Buckeyes lost. He’d literally mope around for 5 days until it was time to gear up for the next game. Even the players had moved on with their lives. I did go to the Rose Bowl in 1997 when the Buckeyes played Arizona. That was actually really exciting being in that kind of atmosphere, rooting for ‘your” team.

Well, Ed is no longer in my life having nothing to do with the Buckeyes, but I still root for a Big 10 team. G went to University of Iowa, home of the Hawkeyes. They’re not exactly at the same level as the currently unstoppable Buckeyes but still, it’s fun to have a team to root for. I just wish I had experienced that whole thing first hand. Having grown up going to Westwood every weekend and UCLA being 10 minutes from home, I thought I needed to get further away from home in SB. Looking back, I might’ve been a lot happier at UCLA afterwards. Whatever. It’s done. Just pondering that whole college thing.

And who am I rooting for in the big BCS game? Gotta root for Florida. Yup, I’ll admit it. I’m still a little bitter about how the Buckeyes influenced my previous life and hey, when you’re rooting for anyone in the Big 10, you have root against OSU. Go Gaters!

posted by Juls @ 10:25 AM