Check off one from the Bucket List

This week’s blog allows me the opportunity to amalgamate several points that have appeared in postings from previous weeks. The cause for this convergence is the NCAA FBS BCS Championship game (that’s a mouthful of abbrs.). The game is being played just a couple of miles from my front door at Joe Robbie Stadium, sorry, Dolphins Stadium. There are some name changes I’ll never get used to, and that’s one of them.
The contest pits the University of Oklahoma Sooners against my son’s alma mater, The University of Florida Gators, daaa-da-da-da…Gator fans respond here.
I know there are more pressing and topical issues that warrant attention. Bernard Madoff the jerkoff, who bilked millionaires out of many of their millions, and poorer schmoes out of their, in some cases, life savings. I guess you can say he’s an equal opportunity douche bag. Unlike Robin Hood, Madoof robbed from the rich AND the poor, and gave to himself. The wealthy may have cause to lament like Walt Kelly’s Pogo, “I have seen the enemy and it is us.” That’s the hot topic I should be writing about, expressing my outrage via my venomous keyboard. But I’m a sports guy. And if sports guys have to choose between sports and something else…well, something else will just have to wait. Also, I’m going to the National Championship Game tomorrow…really…no shit! My joy knows no bounds.
The Bucket List is a recent film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men who make a pact to accomplish a series of goals prior to departing to the hereafter: things to do before they kick the bucket. The wealthy Nicholson character derides Freeman’s blue collar character for the philosophical nature of his meager desires. Nicholson entices, with a few suggestions of his own, Freeman to go big if you’re going to go.
My list is not devoid of things that will bring me personal spiritual enlightenment. However, all of them, no matter their nature, will take some serious coin to accomplish.
I want to walk the same stairs in Jerusalem where Christ carried his cross for crucifixion.
I want to stand at Khyber Pass where Alexander the not so Great (if you studied your history) stood surveying the conquered lands.
For you who have been reading for these past weeks know, I want to go to The Daytona 500 as well(see “Life in the Slow Lane”). Not as spiritual, but an event of relative importance as far as I’m concerned.
Just once I’d like to experience The Kentucky Derby.
I want own one more Corvette before I die; preferably, a ’67 Big Block convertible with auto and air.
Another item on my list is attending a Super Bowl. However, this has a proviso; the Cincinnati Bengals must be a participant. There are age and futility factors to be considered here, so I’m not going to hold my breath over that one.
I’d also like to be in attendance for a New York Mets World Series game. The odds for that one are considerably better.
College sporting events also made the list. Again, the likelihood of my alma mater Florida Atlantic University being in the National Championship before I depart is remote. The next best thing would be to see the University of Florida play in their stead. So tomorrow I can cross that one off my list. What makes this so special is with whom I’m to witness said event, and how this came to pass.
My son and I have gone to many significant, and many not so significant (aside from the company), sporting events. We went to New Orleans to see Florida Atlantic win its first ever bowl game in only their eighth season and third at the FSB level. We drove 14 hours each way, stopping in Gainesville on the way to, and returning from New Orleans. A magical experience for me.
We saw my beloved Bengals play at home in their first playoff game in 16 years. We saw the New York Mets in the playoffs in 1988. We saw the Florida Marlins twice, in 1997 and 2003; take part in World Series games. The less significant are too numerous to mention them all here. For the most part, I was the instigator, making sure we didn’t miss out. For tomorrow’s game, it’s all Cory.
I thought it would be hard to top going to “The Swamp” to see the Gators dismantle LSU back in October(see “The Event”). What the hell did I know? I received a phone call from Cory at the conclusion of the SEC Championship game. Amid his euphoria, and the pandemonium which surrounded him, I heard the words “Dad you’re going.” I knew what he meant, but I didn’t get my hopes up.
Cory was not one of the fortunate few who “won” the ticket lottery instituted by the University of Florida for the distribution of student tickets. Priority was supposedly given to those who had accrued the most credit hours. Bullshit! My son with 145 credits, and his friend Dan, with 309, did not merit a ticket voucher. The wheels were set in motion for an all out ticket harvest. This did not mean I was any closer to going than I was prior to the phone call I received from Atlanta.
There were Cory’s friends to consider, some of them alumni who would sell their collective souls to watch their Gators in this most momentous of games. I would bide my time to see what transpired. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, let the chips fall where they may, no harm, no foul. Enough metaphors for you?
As luck would have it (how about a cliché then), a ticket did turn up. I would be attending the game with my son’s inner circle of Gator faithful. Most of them seem to tolerate my presence without complaint. They even make me feel as though I’m a welcome addition to their troupe. For this I am grateful.
Tomorrow night the collegiate football season comes to a close. A new National Champion will be crowned despite the protests from the USC camp, and someone who has brought an anti-trust lawsuit against the BCS on behalf of the undefeated University of Utah(see “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”). Gates to parking will open at 10:00 for the 8:30 game time. Tailgating will commence almost immediately. I’ll be there with the Brothers McCoy, P. Scott, Brooks, Meredith, Fera, John Dom, 309 credit hour Dan(see “The Event” comments),and Dan as in Linden; all of whom are there for all the right reasons. Unlike the many “football fans” there to be seen, or because they are guests of some corporation, or they have too much money and they think they’re supposed to be there(see “What if They Held a Sporting Event and Nobody Cared?”).
Andrew Jackson might have it possible for the hoi polloi to enjoy sports (see “In Praise of Sport”). For me, Cory has made them more memorable.