There's honestly nothing else like the beginning of college football season in the South - every school and their fanbase have such optimism for the coming months, and enjoy the excuse to get together and have a party.
I spent week 1 watching Alabama play and taking my daughter out for some Daddy time, as my crew kicked off the season with a Thursday night game at Texas A&M. The usual schedule has me traveling in on Thursday evenings or Friday mornings and setting up cameras and equipment on Fridays, so the Thursday night game isn't doable with my teaching duties at Pacific.
SO...week 2 is my first game back on football and the start of my 13th season. The University of Florida is located in Gainesville, and couldn't be more humid if it tried. The Head Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, helped name the stadium The Swamp back in the early 90s apparently. It's probably one of the more appropriate home-field monickers in all of sports - I've yet to work a game there where it wasn't at least wet and/or sticky.
Being back in the middle of the action is always a thrill - I typically operate a field-level camera, and this time I was in the end-zone. The Gators played host to their division rivals, the Kentucky Wildcats, who haven't won this matchup since 1986 and haven't won in Gainesville since Jimmy Carter was president...but they did both this weekend. The Cats came in and completely dominated the game - it was a fun one to welcome me back to the live action. The adrenaline shot once the opening kickoff leaves the tee is indescribable. Let's hope the excitement persists through the next 3 months.