Fun With Ada Pics: College Football Edition

I haven't done a Fun With Ada Pics in a while, mostly because I have to do them in the old school paint application. But, I couldn't resist honoring of our new beloved football season. You can click on them for a better view...

Christmas in August

I would officially consider myself a grown man. I know some may disagree, but let’s just talk in terms of age. I just turned 27, so I am on the tail end of mid-20’s, pushing late 20’s. I have a career, a family to support, and the other day a high school student called me “Sir”. I’m officially old. As I have gotten older, I’ve noticed that over time, I have lost certain things I once cherished in my youthful innocence. I no longer have 3 month summer vacations, the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, or birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese. Now, Ada has even stole my birthday, and if I were a betting man, I would guess she’ll dominate Christmas as well. But all of that is water under the bridge, I am at peace with every bit of it because today is my Christmas Eve. Tomorrow, my Christmas.

It is 12am Friday night/Saturday morning and I am not the least bit sleepy. It’s very likely that I won’t get a wink of sleep tonight. There will probably be several hours with my head on the pillow, staring at the ceiling, with grandeurs of first downs, touchdowns, upsets, and last second field goals filling my head. Granted, I probably won’t be able to go to sleep tomorrow night for the exact opposite reasons. But for now, there is still hope.

The 2008-09 college football season kicks off tomorrow and I don’t think I could be more excited. Much like Christmas is to a 6 year old, college football’s opening weekend kickoff is by far my most highly anticipated day on the calendar. Yes, I know there were games on last night, but those are just office holiday parties compared to tomorrow’s majesty.

No doubt, I love the entire season. I love sitting at my desk throughout the week looking at the schedule hanging up in my cubicle trying to decide which game is going to be the best the next weekend. But there is something special about this weekend, opening weekend. Eight months of anticipation have led us to right now. Eight months of speculation, hype, predictions and pontifications all comes full circle tomorrow. All the talk is over and it time for our teams to perform. Opening weekend is great because every team’s record is unblemished, every slate is clean, and no matter how slim, everyone has a chance at perfection. Everyone.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the quickest four months of the year. Four months filled of gratifying triumphs and gut wrenching defeats. Four months that I live weekend to weekend, game to game, snap to whistle. We’ll see some heroes rise and see some fall. We’ll see streaks snapped, new ones begun, and traditions lived out. Tomorrow sets into motion more drama and suspense than anyone in Hollywood could ever script.

Merry Football Season!

August 5: The Day Formerly Known as MY Birthday

There was big difference between my 7th and my 27th birthdays.

For my 7th birth, and pretty much every adolescent birthday I had, some kids that lived on the same street as me would hop on their Huffy’s and pedal over for some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed cake and ice cream. What 7yr old boy wouldn’t think the TMNT were awesome? They were turtles that walked around on two legs, were skilled with weapons such as nunchucks and the bow staff and ate pizza 24/7. Anyway, we would hang out playing the old 8 bit Nintendo, they’d each give me about $5, and then we would go outside and run around in the woods for a while or play pitch up smear. My birthday just the way I wanted it, Happy Birthday me.

This year was much different. One year ago yesterday, much like the young Jodie Sweeten stole my 7yr old heart, Ada crept into this life and stole my birthday. Ada planted her flag into August 5th like a Spanish conquistador and claimed it as her own. There was no football themed wrapping paper like I was accustomed to back in the day, but instead, a lot of little pink gift bags and Baby Einstein paper. My favorite upright walking turtles were officially replaced with brightly colored plastic caterpillars singing the alphabet.

Ada being born on my birthday will forever be the single greatest birthday present that I will ever be given. (Props to God.) Last year, I was ok with her stealing the show, but I am just now realizing how much it’s going to affect all birthdays that are yet to come. It’s very much like winning a Porsche on a game show: now that the car is in my driveway, I’m having to pickup the $750/mo insurance payments. My birthday is now a thing of the past. For further proof of this, check out LB’s "The Birthday Post" post from yesterday, I didn’t get a single mention.

I’m not mad at Ada for this. I don’t think she did it on purpose, but August 5 is now her birthday. I suspect any bitterness I do have will fade little by little each year. Time does heal all wounds. I also suspect knowing my exact age will dissipate over time as well. With Ada taking over the August 5th birthday celebrations and me getting the birthday shaft, it will only be a matter of time. A few years will go by with my birthday getting little to no recognition; a few more years pass where we forget it altogether. Before you know it, I’ll have gray hair standing in line at McDonald’s unsure if I am age eligible for a discount on coffee or not.

It may sound like I am whining, but realizing that your birthday has eternally been ripped away from you is a hard pill to swallow. Ada, I love you very much, but there’s no denying you are a birthday thief. So, happy birthday, I hope you enjoy August 5th as your birthday as much as I did. May it be as good to you as it was to me.

Now I’m going to go scratch a tick mark onto the back of our headboard in hopes of keeping an accurate tally of how many years I have and will survive.