The Heisman

Tonight the highest award in college football will be awarded and I must admit, I'm pretty excited.  


I credit my dad and brother for my love of the game.  While I grew up cheering for the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings (thanks to a 5th grade crush), I now find myself in the heart of Cowboy County. 


These days I'm more captivated by  college football, in particular, the University of Georgia Bulldogs (SEC football, the best) and, this year, the Baylor University Bears.  Don't get me wrong, I'll watch at least part of any exciting game, and I always enjoy cheering for the underdog, but these two teams have me pretty much enthralled.


As a consequence of my fandom for Baylor, I've followed this year's Heisman race closely.  Among the five finalists for the award is Baylor's young quarterback, Robbert Griffin III (aka RG3),  who has been so exciting to watch, put Baylor football (currently #12 in the BCS, thank you) on the map, and seems as impressive on the field as off.   

All this thinking about the Heisman takes me back to another Heisman-related story that involves (long story short): my husband (then boyfriend) on a business trip to Los Angeles, an emergency/unscheduled landing in Ontario, California, a 3 a.m. appendectomy at the Ontario Community Hospital, a 6 day hospital stay, a slow recovery and the Heisman award.  Suffice it to say, in a drug-induced state, seeing Andre Ware win the Heisman was seemingly the highlight of my husband's entire life.  As he wept "tears of happiness" from his hospital bed, I knew three things immediately:  despite almost 5 days in the hospital he was a long way from well, medication does strange things to people and, one day this would be the most hilarious story ever.  This story's been recounted numerous times and always has me laughing.  


Anyway, in it's 76 year history, there have been some pretty impressive Heisman winners.  Saturday night, here's hoping RG3's name is added to that list.