As I was born and raised in the south, I want to take a second to talk about religion: football. More specifically college football. Yes, southerners care for the NFL, but it's the college league that reigns king. I mean, why would you eat at Olive Garden, when that Italian place with the real food is closer to home. I've had two main sources of excitement so far this week, both relating to said religion. First off, Middle Tennessee had a little upset this past weekend. They won. And not just to that college from Podunk, Wisconsin where the importance of football falls right under something like Volleyball...or bowling. It was against Maryland. Again, not Central Maryland College West at Sumter, just plain Maryland. That's the big time, boys. The video proves it.
The second may seem slightly more minute (the small kind, not the seconds and hours kind), but it is far from that. It could be measured on the same level of excitement 28 year old women felt when New Kids on the Block announced a reunion. I got a ticket to the USC vs Georgia game!! You may be asking, "But sir, why is this such a big deal? Did you simply not just purchase a ticket?" And to that I would respond, "Don't call me sir, I am not a 57 year old man with a comb over thinking I am stumping people on the whole question of whether or not that is actual hair from my entire head, or just a tiny section. You can simply call me Josh." Once I am past that little debacle, I would tell you about how Gamecock country deals with the student ticket sich (short for situation, btw). You may have to read the next few lines twice or thrice over, it can be confusing. A student is given points based on their classification (Freshman-4, Sophomore- 6, Junior- 8, and so forth). If a student wants to go to a football game, they must go to the athletic website during the "Request Phase" for that game and request a ticket. You are then entered into a lottery. Depending on how many points you have depends how many times your name is entered into the lottery (you earn more points for attending a game, and penalized if you get a ticket and don't go to a game). Of the 30,000 students, 9,000 tickets are awarded. You get a nice little email saying you actually won a ticket- let me tell you though, the rejection email is pretty harsh. It is as if SC was dumping you and merely decides to send an email to avoid the pain and awkwardness of the delivery. Anywho, this time I won the lottery and got a ticket! Hard to believe there are more logistics to this whole ticketing charade, but who wants to read for another thirty minutes. Just know I'll be decked out in Garnet and Black come Saturday.
You also may be wondering about the name, The Life of Forrest Gump. Obvi, my name is not Forrest Gump (it's Josh btw, nice to meet you). Like Gump, however, I am from the great state of Alabama (I've decided to add Great State of- prior to my mention of Alabama to parallel Sarah Palin's mention of The Great State of Alaska in every speech she has given. Except I don't add that northern twang thing to it, so don't get that little audio snippet in your head when you read it) where Paul "Bear" Bryant is a legend and hounds-tooth is forbidden by Auburn fans. He also went from The Great State of Alabama (it's catching on, isn't it) to South Carolina to find his Jenny. If I wanted to be all grad student on this, I could say his search for his love correlates with my move to SC from the Great State of Alabama to find my love in student affairs (because I am nearly certain my love as it relates to the human kind happens to be in a more horizontally shaped state). You may also be asking why I didn't say The Adventures of Forrest Gump, that sounds more exciting. Well, my life isn't that exciting to be considered adventurous. It's just life. So feel free to follow as I walk in my unadventurous shoes. Because, ya know, "Mama says they are magic shoes. They can take me anywhere...."
