To the Fall...

I love the Fall! I worship it. I love the smell in the air of the Fall...the smell of tailgating and leaves burning. I love the changing colors of the leaves on the trees when it provides colors of red, orange and yellow that only happen in Fall. Most of all though I love the glorious end of baseball season. The division and wild card races that keep everyone on the edge of their seat. Even those people who can't stand watching April through August. And with the turn of the season comes nothing other than football. High School kids getting ready for their moment of glory on a Friday night, or tailgating on a brisk Saturday morning before sitting in stadiums that mimic where the Gladitors once stood. I just love the Fall!

Tonight I am going to watch my younger brother coach high school football and I am sure some of you think that it is crazy at 25 to be watching high school football. But let me tell you there is nothing like watching the expressions on these young kids faces when they acheive victory and even more so when they have overcome adversity to get there. It is exciting to be sharing these nights with my younger brother. Football is more than a game to us. It is something that connects us as brother and sister, but most of all as friends. It brings us back to memories of my father who each and every game even though we don't say it we miss. The fall reminds us of him. When he too was a high school football coach and would pace the sidelines like Joe Paterno. When he used to wake us up at the crack of dawn to tailgate for 3:30pm Michigan football games. When he would yell at the TV during Lions games as if they could hear him. When he would call me all the way at Mizzou to let me know who we had just recruited.

The fall is the most glorious time of the year for my family. It is full of the noises and excitment of going back to school even if you aren't. It is filled with new coats and sweaters. It is filled with birthdays for both my mother and myself. But most of all it a way to connect back to everything that is good.

I love it to the point that I got up this morning and counted down the minutes until the first college football game was on TV tonight. And when I checked my email this morning it was the glorious sound of the Red Sox being up 2.5 games over New York.

Here is to the Fall!