Football Nirvana

The cool, seemingly ethereal air surrounds me.  The trees and wildlife still in their last throes of summer, lush and full of color.  The sun still beaming brightly as a reminder of just how brilliant life can be.

I'm out running, listening to a the song "Scrub" by Mike Fiki.  A song that both exudes confidence while still being cognizant of a struggle.  I'm feeling good, my lungs and feet in rhythm.  I'm trying to push myself, while keeping aware of what my body feels like. 


I finish running into my driveway, gasping for air and quickly taking a seat on my porch.

I'm looking up into the blue and white sky over the tops of the dense green trees.  I'm looking and feeling at a place that feels near perfection to me. 

"This, this is what I've been waiting for,"  I think to myself, looking as I watch a slow fading sunset in the distance.

It's a Friday and for the first time since the fall of 2005, I am free for football weekends.

For the first time, I feel as though I'm joining the rest of the working world and so many of my peers.

Over the past 13 or so years, I have enjoyed working in the service industry as a bartender and  manager, yet the demands of the job entail a lot of weekend work, especially during events such as home football games.

After that amount of time, you kind of forget how great weekends really are. Consecutive days away from school or work and the freedom to do whatever other activities you might enjoy.  The ability to plan and meet friends or family becomes more manageable.

To have that again feels serene.

For the first time since my freshman year, I will be able to attend almost every game in one season at Penn State. 

The sense of anticipation continues to grow, verging on a sense of near hysteria.  The optimism and energy in town feels like a pathogen bursting into our bodies and giving way to an abnormal upbeat mood swing. 

Most pundits have pegged Penn State to be the third big ten team behind Ohio State and Michigan, but I think the truth is that no one really knows.  It feels with Urban Meyer leaving Ohio State, as well as its starting quarterback, they could be had.  Michigan feels like it should be better by now since they paid Jim Harbaugh a ton of money and have had some great recruiting classes.

The reality is I think we just defaulted into thinking the teams will be where they almost always are without any real consideration as to who actually may have the best team on the field.

So to me, this season will be fun, because I think of it as a season of opportunity.  That this year could be something special as the team comes of age.  All the reports seem to indicate they have some really great players all over the field and that the athletic talent at Penn State overall is about as good as it's ever been.

I think the things that will separate them from the other teams will come down to the intangibles. 

The ability to read and understand the game as it unfolds. 

The ability to deal with adversity. 

The camaraderie, trust, and love it takes to help each other through a demanding physical and mental season.

The ability to push one another to be better.

Now for the first time in a long time, I feel more a part of that again.  It feels like a long lost connection to my past has come back to me.  A welling of nostalgia and peace seems to be putting me under a spell where the world appears without flaws.

For me that is what I feel going into tomorrow.

Football Nirvana.