There's something special about being a college student during the fall.
Each home football game feels like a holiday. Streets are packed. Clothes are red and white. Festive marching band music fills the air.
It happens every year. You'll witness it on campus today. Take a minute. Soak it all in.
College football in early September is refreshing. Everything is new. Anything is possible.
It doesn't matter what Ball State did last season. Our Cardinals are 0-0, with a season full of potential ahead.
Enjoy every moment. Do it for the right reasons.
Appreciate the time you spend tailgating with your friends. Appreciate tonight's opener against Southeast Missouri State more.
Few things compare to the relationship between a college football team and its student body.
Remember the feeling Nov. 25, 2008? Remember the scene as the better part of 11,000 students rushed the field to celebrate Ball State's 45-22 win against Western Michigan and a 12-0 regular season?
Of course we do. Unfortunately, we also remember Brady Hoke's departure, the Mid-American Conference championship game and GMAC Bowl slaughters, and last season's 2-10 record. Now it feels as if 2008 was a ghost, a myth, like it never happened at all.
We can dwell on negatives or focus on positives. Let's choose the latter. Let's march down Bethel Avenue, through the gates of Scheumann Stadium, and fill our student section. Let's chirp and cheer and forget what happened last fall.
Look forward, not back.
Don't take these games for granted. They'll be gone before you know it.
I remember my first Ball State football experience as a student like kickoff was last week. The Cardinals stomped Eastern Michigan by almost three touchdowns in 2006 (nothing new there). Nate Davis was 7-of-8 for 108 yards and three touchdowns in his first appearance as a college quarterback.
Now I'm a fifth-year senior, expecting to graduate in December, unable to believe I only have six home games left. Davis is a second-year backup for the San Francisco 49ers.
It's time for a new generation of Ball State fans to emerge.
Each college football season develops its own rhythm. Like a river, it ebbs and flows with wins, losses, highlights, injuries and everything in between. We never know where the current will take us, but our student ID gives us a free shotgun seat for the action.
No matter what outcome happens tonight, the important thing is to support this team — our team.
Whatever happens the next three months, enjoy the ride.
Nothing is certain this season, and nothing should be taken for granted. That's the fun part.
We watch sports because it's the ultimate reality TV. We follow because we never know what will come next.
It's time for Kelly Page to turn into the quarterback he was recruited to be, the quarterback we need him to be.
It's time for a defense loaded with present and future stars — Sean Baker, Robert Eddins, Travis Freeman — to assume leadership.
It's time for Stan Parrish to have as much success as a head coach as he's always experienced as an assistant, to finally get that elusive winning season.
It's time for Ball State football. The Cardinals will write their own story this fall.
Enjoy the journey.
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