Take Me Back Tuesday - The Boys of Fall

Our love for football started when our boys were young fans of the Dallas Cowboys. They loved Troy, Emmitt, and the others, and even attended a game in the old Texas Stadium (where it was said that God could watch his favorite team play football).

We started attending Purdue football games, and enjoyed our seats in the south end zone, where we could greet the players as then ran on and off the field.

Our love for Purdue football grew even more when we had the opportunity to watch this guy play. That's Drew Brees, for those of you who don't recognize him.

We waited after each game to get autographs from the players. The picture below shows Drew Brees signing Adam's jersey. On this particular day, Adam had his arm in a cast, and hoped Drew would sign both his cast and his jersey. When Drew came out, he said he would sign one item for each of them. I could see the wheels turning in Adam's head as he tried to decide which one to have him sign. When Drew got to him, he turned around for him to sign the jersey. Then, with sweet, sad eyes, Adam turned and held up his cast. What could Drew do, but sign it for him? And he did. Good guy then, good guy now.

We had our own 'boys of fall' as well. This is Andrew, who didn't play football until his junior year of high school. We have many great memories of Friday nights under the lights. Like the game at EC in the driving, nearly freezing rain, when every layer of football clothing was muddy brown in color. Football laundry is not for sissies.

A little clowning around on picture day.

And Big Jon, of course, who started his football career in junior high. He played center then because he was able to remember the snap count. Look at all that hair!

There are many fun football memories with Jon, as well. Getting a penalty at JC, Jon the kicker, hurting his knee at FC, and of course, The Sack, shown below.

photo credit, Ruthann

Of course, there was more clowning around on picture day.

And I can't talk about the boys of fall without a link to the video by Kenny Chesney. Such a great song. This version is great, and definitely worth watching if you're a football fan. Sean Payton, coach of the New Orleans Saints, appears, as well as most of the football greats, past and present. I love Sean's quote when he says to the high school team, "These tonights? They're goin' by fast."
Yes, they are. Yes, they did.