Pinch Hitting: Sarah of I'm Just Saying

Editor's note: Last week I came up with the idea of bringing in some Pinch Hitters, so to speak. I've invited a couple friends and fellow bloggers to write posts for you, our loyal fans in the stands. Naturally, the honor of the first guest post should go to none other than my esteemed wife and author of the well-read blog, I'm Just Saying. I was going to introduce her post saying "I am thrilled to present our first guest columnist"...but then I read the first line of her post below. By the time Saturday gets here, I'll be able to support the Hogs in their efforts against Alabama, but I'm not there yet. So with what bitterness I am still carrying from my UGA Dawgs choking and handing the win over to the Hogs, I'll say...

*queue up "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake*

Now hitting: #41, the second baseman, Sarah.

Wooooooo PIG SOOIEEEE! Go Razorbacks! Hogs rule, Dawgs drool!

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I'll tell you why I'm here. This blog needs a feminine touch!

Tonight at 11:09pm, we enter the most glorious season of them all. It's FALL, y'all! Why do I love Fall so much? Oh, let me count the ways! Cooler temperatures (allegedly), jackets and long sleeves and sweaters, chili and soups, and college football. Now, I can blog with the best of 'em about my favorite Autumn clothing and I can share a darn good chili recipe, but Michael has asked me to write about my love of college football. And what better time to do that than right after my team mopped the floor with his team the beginning of Fall?

I think the reason women can get into college football so easily is because we can relate it to our past. We can remember our high school days (and even younger) hanging out at the football game on a Friday night. I remember all of us girls worrying about dates to the Homecoming game, the VERY LARGE AND OBSCENE Homecoming corsages, playing in the band and marching at half-time, making fun of the cheerleaders cheering at the top of our lungs, dressing in school colors to show our spirit, and of course, checking out the hot football players. Good Friday night memories.

The excitement - for me - dropped off dramatically in college, because my alma mater didn't have that great of a team to speak of. I went to some games, but there was so much other fun stuff to do in college! Besides, our team mascot was gramatically incorrect. And that's just embarrassing.

But then.

In the late 90s, I went to work at a television station in Little Rock. It was there that I worked with The Voice of the Razorbacks, Mr. Paul Eells. How on earth could you not be excited about Razorback football when working with this man? I discovered my love for college football. There was so much excitement to be had! Calling the Hogs, tailgating, crazy fans, SEC rivalry games, wearing Razorback red, and of course, the hot football players. You just couldn't help but be excited...especially when some games went into seven-freaking-overtimes. Yep, I caught a serious case of college football fever.

And now, I live far from Razorback country. I married into the Georgia Bulldogs family. I have friends who are LSU Tigers fans, Tennessee Vols fans, Auburn Tigers fans, Ole Miss fans, and Alabama Crimson Tide fans. I even have a few friends who cheer for the Florida Gators...bless their hearts, they just don't know any better. I love them dearly, but I will always root for whatever team is playing the Florida Gators. Even surrounded by a melting pot of fans of other teams, I still call my Hogs on Saturdays. THIS is college football, readers. College football is the smack talk between rival teams, it's losing your voice from cheering, it's the car flags whipping in the wind, it's the tailgating with your friends and complete strangers, it's the heartbreak of a loss and the joy and gloating of a win. And for me, there's just something about hearing "TOUCHDOWN ARKANSAS!" that lets me know Fall is officially here, regardless of the date on the calendar.

It's just nostalgic.

That and it feels darn good when your team straight up rolls over your spouse's team.

~Sarah

Fan Friendly Fridays - Hokie edition

The other day, Sarah and I were discussing something related to college football and Virginia Tech came up. As you may or may not know, the athletic teams at VT are the "Hokies". But what is a "hokie?" Well, as I have struggled for blog ideas the past couple weeks, when Sarah and I discussed this very question the other day, I thought it would make for a good FFF post.

The following is a condensed version of the story behind "Hokie" as found on the Virginia Tech website.

Virginia Tech was founded in 1872 and was originally named Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. In 1896, the school's name changed to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnical Institute, which was so long that locals started referring to the school as "VPI".

With the chance in the official name of the school, the school cheer was no longer suitable and thus a contest was held for a new spirit yell. The contest was won by O. M. Stull, Class of 1896. The cheer, now known as The Old Hokie, goes:
Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy.
Techs, Techs, V.P.I.
Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah.
Polytechs - Vir-gin-ia.
Rae, Ri, V.P.I.

Later on, Team! Team! Team! was added on to the end of the cheer.

Stull said that he made up the word "hoki" to be an attention grabber. However, due to the popularity of the cheer, "hokie" (with the e added later) has remained a part of the Virginia Tech tradition ever since. With the new school name and cheer, Virginia Tech changed its colors to the burnt orange and Chicago maroon worn to this day.

Be looking forward to next week as I am hoping to have my first guest columnists featured on Stepping Up.

Pigs, gators, and stupidity

Yesterday a story broke that a reporter for The Hog Sports Radio was fired for wearing a Florida Gators hat to an Arkansas Razorbacks press conference.

You can watch press conference here, with Razorback Head Coach Bobby Petrino commenting on reporter Renee Gork's hat at around 1:35 into the video. Judging by his eye movement, Gork is somewhere off to his left. Both Gork and The Hog Sports Radio GM, Dan Storrs, went on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday and gave their side of what happened. Here are some links for you to catch up on:

• Sports Illustrated
• ESPN
• ESPN College Football reporter Chris Low

Aside from her apparent lack of taste in teams to support, I have no problem with her owning and wearing a Gators hat. The problem was that she wore a hat of a rival team on the job. Point of clarification here - it's professionally regarded to be in bad taste to wear apparel in support of any team when covering sports. In this case, Gork was employed by a station that doesn't claim to be objective and therefore the problem lies in that she was wearing the hat of an occasional opponent that is generally disliked across the rest of the SEC.

 Does anyone who knows me really think that if I was sentenced to work for the Mets that I would get rid of my Braves jerseys and hats? Or if one I am working for the University of Florida that I would simply no longer be a Georgia fan? Of course not! But you better believe I would be ULTRA-judicious about how and when they get worn in public. Wearing a Gators hat to ANY other team's press conference would be like Sarah going in to work at C*N wearing a "Faux News rocks!" shirt. Simply bad taste...on multiple levels.

Short and simple: you have got to always be aware of your surroundings. You must clearly know who you are working for, what they are about, as well as who is LISTENING to you and what they are expecting. The Hog Sports Radio apparently does not try to be objective, which is fine. If you are going to work for a station that has a stated purpose of supporting-not just covering-a team or school, and that's what the listeners are tuning in for, you simply can't make mistakes like that. People are always listening, and if it is known that you have an affiliation with another entity, someone who is listening is going to link your words or actions to that entity, whether correct or not. Whether she intended to or not, she put her employer in a position where they had to go on the defense, and that usually doesn't go over well.

I can't fault Petrino or the school for being irritated at Gork's attire. I also believe her side of the story that it was an honest mistake and she meant no disrespect. But how many times have we heard or read a story where the outcome would be drastically different had the person involved taken just 10 more seconds to think about what they were doing?