With Brandon hosting a reminiscent show this week and GOL on the Beat of Sports I'm reliving all of the thoughts and feels of that 2013 season. I feel like sharing them with all of you...
I'll start this out by saying that I'm very fortunate that my wife is just a big of a fan as I am which goes a long way in this story. It probably stems from us traveling to away games early on in our relationship and getting her hooked on the travelling part. We were good for at least two away games every year. Also important to the story is that my Aunt and Uncle would travel to many of these games with us, but my Aunt was out for 2013 due to a recent surgery.
The story starts in the summer of 2013 when we find out we're going to have our first child. Not knowing how many games we'd be able to attend ever again with a newborn we decided we'd go all out for the 2013 season. We decided to attend as many as we could with the goal being every single one.
We started out at FIU which was a nice win and uneventful. I think I remember the three of us drove down together, stayed one night and came back. 38-0 and we looked good.
@ Penn State was one to remember... having gone to PSU with my uncle for my 21st birthday in 2004 this was such sweet redemption for both of us. I remember sitting in the bottom 10 rows in 2004 just in awe that we were even able to play a game in this gigantic stadium. To walk away in 2013 with one of our largest wins to date was incredible.
@Memphis was the first one to fall apart. We couldn't get reasonable travel in time so we were out of the perfect attendance award, determined to make it the only miss
@ Louisville - We discussed leaving this one early because we had a full day of Churchill downs and the bourbon trail ahead of us on Saturday. Thank goodness we didn't. It was after this game that we knew we had something special brewing. What a perfect time to have a pregnant wife because there was no rock,paper,scissors for who had to be the DD next day on the trail. Had a Lousville Slugger bat made with the score the next day and my own hand dipped bottle of Makers to remember the special occasion.
@Temple - a last minute decision and one we'd replicate a few years later. We found a spirit flight that left around 6am to get into Philly before 9. The only time I've ever seen someone use the airplane sickness bag, it was my wife who was 8 months pregnant at this point and let it all go right after take off. She was a trooper and made it all day. After the game we ran over to Jim's for a cheesesteak, a stop at the liberty bell, and then right back to the airport for our 9pm flight home getting back to the house 19 hours or so after we left.
@SMU - strike two in the perfect attendance. My wife was just too far along and we weren't going to risk anything with the ice bowl.
Now to the fun part... when the Fiesta Bowl was announced my wife looked at me and said "of course you have to go". Lucky for me it wasn't even a second thought for her. Our daughter was born on December 17th. Two weeks later my uncle and I took off to Glendale via Albuquerque to watch the game even if we were going to lose by 16.5. One of the best days of my life. My uncle graduated in 1975 and has been a fan since it all started. He's the one who got me hooked on UCF as a freshman in 2002. One of the few times I've ever seen him shed a tear was when the game ended and he said to me... "We've made it". He's not around anymore so it still brings a tear to my eye thinking about it.
The story continues into January when my daughter made her much earlier than planned first ever trip to Disneyworld She also got me that sweet jersey in my profile pic for Christmas later that year.
Thanks for reliving the most memorable year I've ever had as a UCF fan...
Charge on!
I'll start this out by saying that I'm very fortunate that my wife is just a big of a fan as I am which goes a long way in this story. It probably stems from us traveling to away games early on in our relationship and getting her hooked on the travelling part. We were good for at least two away games every year. Also important to the story is that my Aunt and Uncle would travel to many of these games with us, but my Aunt was out for 2013 due to a recent surgery.
The story starts in the summer of 2013 when we find out we're going to have our first child. Not knowing how many games we'd be able to attend ever again with a newborn we decided we'd go all out for the 2013 season. We decided to attend as many as we could with the goal being every single one.
We started out at FIU which was a nice win and uneventful. I think I remember the three of us drove down together, stayed one night and came back. 38-0 and we looked good.
@ Penn State was one to remember... having gone to PSU with my uncle for my 21st birthday in 2004 this was such sweet redemption for both of us. I remember sitting in the bottom 10 rows in 2004 just in awe that we were even able to play a game in this gigantic stadium. To walk away in 2013 with one of our largest wins to date was incredible.
@Memphis was the first one to fall apart. We couldn't get reasonable travel in time so we were out of the perfect attendance award, determined to make it the only miss
@ Louisville - We discussed leaving this one early because we had a full day of Churchill downs and the bourbon trail ahead of us on Saturday. Thank goodness we didn't. It was after this game that we knew we had something special brewing. What a perfect time to have a pregnant wife because there was no rock,paper,scissors for who had to be the DD next day on the trail. Had a Lousville Slugger bat made with the score the next day and my own hand dipped bottle of Makers to remember the special occasion.
@Temple - a last minute decision and one we'd replicate a few years later. We found a spirit flight that left around 6am to get into Philly before 9. The only time I've ever seen someone use the airplane sickness bag, it was my wife who was 8 months pregnant at this point and let it all go right after take off. She was a trooper and made it all day. After the game we ran over to Jim's for a cheesesteak, a stop at the liberty bell, and then right back to the airport for our 9pm flight home getting back to the house 19 hours or so after we left.
@SMU - strike two in the perfect attendance. My wife was just too far along and we weren't going to risk anything with the ice bowl.
Now to the fun part... when the Fiesta Bowl was announced my wife looked at me and said "of course you have to go". Lucky for me it wasn't even a second thought for her. Our daughter was born on December 17th. Two weeks later my uncle and I took off to Glendale via Albuquerque to watch the game even if we were going to lose by 16.5. One of the best days of my life. My uncle graduated in 1975 and has been a fan since it all started. He's the one who got me hooked on UCF as a freshman in 2002. One of the few times I've ever seen him shed a tear was when the game ended and he said to me... "We've made it". He's not around anymore so it still brings a tear to my eye thinking about it.
The story continues into January when my daughter made her much earlier than planned first ever trip to Disneyworld She also got me that sweet jersey in my profile pic for Christmas later that year.
Thanks for reliving the most memorable year I've ever had as a UCF fan...
Charge on!
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