Countdown to 30: Day 14

Since it is a football day and since I am such a big fan of football, today seems like a good day to share my favorite football memory.

While attending Baylor, I was faithful to attend all home games while in undergrad. Every year the big game was against A&M. One year it was rainy and Baylor was getting killed so I left early. I never left football games early! I even made it a point to go to the game at College Station. Law school changed my faithfulness to games, but I still tried to go to that game each year.

Baylor was on quite a losing streak against A&M. It had been almost twenty years since Baylor had won. We got close in College Station one year an lost in the last few minutes. My last year of law school the game was in Waco. Baylor's team was terrible. A&M had a decent team. One of the biggest finals of my law school career was going to occur the Monday after the game. Common sense told me to skip the game.

I have not always been one to follow common sense. I chose to go to the game. I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life if Baylor happened to win. We stood in our normal seats. I intended to leave if the game got out of hand. However at halftime it was close. At the end of the third quarter it was close. At the end of the game it was tied. So much for leaving early to study! A&M had the ball first in overtime and scored a touchdown. The pressure was on. Then Baylor scored a touchdown and needed the extra point to send it to double overtime. "They are going for 2." I said it even before the offense returned to the field. It was going to be either the worst decision of the year or the best. Given that I had sat through the UNLV disaster a few years prior where we fumbled instead of taking a knee and they returned it for the game winning touchdown, I felt sure we would endure another heartbreak. The ball was snapped, the pass was in the air, it looked like it was caught, the ref signaled it was good, and chaos broke out in the stands. The chaos continued. It was awesome! Baylor had finally beaten the Aggies and I had been brave enough not to skip it to study.

I ended up not doing as well on my final as I should have. However there are something that are worth trading. It was a good lesson to learn as I now have to remind myself life is not all about work. I still have my Gig This shirt too!