I worked in Iraq for just over two years as a contractor. It wasn’t fun, but it was interesting, professionally rewarding and they paid me a lot of money. We worked a lot (12+ hour days typically) and you had to pick something to focus on to get through until your next vacation. When you were tired or frustrated or scared, you had to have that one thing to focus on or else you wouldn’t make it. I always focused on my friends and family. My vacations always involved seeing them when possible. But, with such a large time difference (9 hours) it was really hard keeping in touch most of the time and I let several relationships suffer because of my decision to go overseas. Even with all of that, I was only truly homesick once. And by truly homesick, I mean I was in tears because I couldn’t be with my loved ones.
If you know me, or paid close attention to my past posts, you’ll know that I’m a diehard Texas fan. If you know me, or paid close attention to my past posts, you’ll also know that I grew up in College Station. My dad and sister work for Texas A&M. My mom did. My brother in law, three cousins, my mom and my sister all received one or more degrees from A&M and are all Aggie fans. Another cousin and an uncle are Texas fans. Every year, we would have Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. If the Longhorns and Aggies were playing in College Station, most of us would head out to Kyle Field to the game. If the game were in Austin, the Aggies would be in one room and the Longhorn fans would usually be in another one (to keep the peace). Those games were integral to our Thanksgiving gatherings. My first Thanksgiving in Iraq, all I could do was think of my family watching that game, and it crushed me (the fact that I missed one of the most boring games in the series didn’t matter).
As you may be aware, Texas A&M left the Big XII for the SEC this year (and if you aren’t aware, you don’t have any friends that are Aggies). That means that the Aggies and Longhorns are in different conferences. I’m not going to get into who is to blame for the game being cancelled, all that matters for the purposes of this post is that it’s cancelled. And that’s unfortunate. This Thursday, all of my family members will be in College Station. And some of us will watch the Texans and Cowboys play. And some will even watch Texas versus TCU, but it won’t be the same. And because of that, there is no Game of the Week this week.
Games I’ll be Watching:
TCU at Texas – Yeah, I’ll watch. I’m still a fan.
Notre Dame at USC – Can the Trojans play spoiler? If not, Notre Dame is the only guaranteed title game participant.
Florida at Florida State – Did you know this game is for the Florida Cup? Neither did I. I do know that the winner will only have one loss and could make a case for the title game.
Oregon at Oregon State – The Civil War…if the Ducks rebound from their loss to Stanford, they could still have an outside chance of playing for the national championship.
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma – Bedlam…always a tough emotional game. The Sooners and Cowboys have something to play for here.
Michigan at Ohio State – If the Buckeyes win, they will be undefeated and ineligible for a bowl. Could the voters give them a share of the national title?
* These opinions are from Dustin and not Gameday Cloth. He hopes you aren’t offended and have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
