Rod's sports getaway

Last weekend, my brother Rod came out to visit me in Texas as part of his birthday gift. I say me only because Allison was around for about an hour or two the whole time Rod was here. As far as the birthday goes, I told Julie earlier in the summer that if she would by him airline tickets to Texas, I would provide a trip to Aggieland to see his alma mater (Fresno State) play my wanna-be alma mater Texas A&M (I went to Texas A&M-Commerce). Now for you Californian's that would be like going to Cal State Stanislaus but wishing you went to Fresno State. Or, maybe UC-Merced (did they ever build that school?) and wanna-be Cal Berkeley.... I don't know if that translates, but that is the best I could do.

We started the trip Thursday evening with a meal at County Line BBQ (same place we took the Mack Family), but no, we did not order the 5 meat plate this time. After dinner we headed over to the Bass Pro Shops next door, which is built overlooking a huge lake. On Friday, Rod and I played a little golf at the Mesquite Golf Course, which is in our neighborhood. We both played well, but Rod was able to squeek out win by one shot (104 to 103). And yes, I have been practicing as my previous two rounds were 125 and 115.

After our fun round of golf we cooled off and prepared for Rod's first experience with Friday Night Lights. We went to see the #8 ranked Allen Eagles host the #10 fightin' Rockwall Yellowjackets. Rockwall moved the ball well in the first quarter and scored first. Allen appeared to make effective adjustments and scored three straight TD's before the half. In my opinion, the best adjustment was to throw the ball to the 6' 6" wide receiver. I really don't know how tall he was, but he may have had 10 to 12 inches on the DB's. Well, as they say, "Jacket fight never dies" so the Jackets fought back. Late in the fourth quarter Rockwall was in a position to tie the game. A rare interception was thrown by the QB in a 28-21 game. Allen ended up scoring to take a two touchdown lead. Rockwall still didn't quit and ended up getting one more score. The final was 35-27 Allen. Next up: Southlake Carroll, who just lost last night at SMU for the first time in 49 games. We sure would like to see 1-2 next to Southlake's name after next week.

So, if Friday wasn't fun enough, we decided to step it up a huge notch and head down to Aggieland. Jason came over in the morning and Allison made us pancakes before we left (one of the short visits she had with Rod). The game started at 2:30 on a sunny and fairly humid day. The temp was supposed to be about 92-94 with a heat index of 102. We absolutely baked the entire first half. We took turns buying water and getting in the shade. The medical personnel were very busy dragging folk's out on carts due to heat stress (and that was in the stands).

The first half was fairly boring with the Aggies going to the lockers with a 19-0 lead. The second half was much better as we got cloud cover and the Bulldogs got a game plan. FSU slowly fought their way back into the game, which they tied late in the fourth. The stadium intensity raised, which is what I wanted Rod to experience. The game ended up going to three overtimes, with Fresno State coming up short on a two point conversion to tie. Final 47-45 Ags. It had been raining most of the overtime periods lightly, but as soon as the game ended, the skies opened up with a huge downpour. Being drenched in rain was no problem to us after being drenched in sweat all day.Although we could have done more sports (Oakland A's at Rangers Sunday afternoon and Cowboy's at home on Sunday night) we had a great time. And neither of those games would have compared to what we just witnessed. For those of you college or high school football fans who want the real experience, head on out this way and you will see the best of both.

Gig 'em Aggies! Whoop!