Reflections from the former sports editor

If you gave me a million dollars, I would spend it on sports tickets.

My life has revolved around sports for as long as I can remember. I have skipped parties, meals and classes to watch sports. I have played them, coached them and covered them. I evaluated colleges based on the quality of their sports teams - a college interviewer once asked me, "So, other than our sports teams, why do you want to go here?"

I used to prefer the NFL to college football because I hated the bowl system, but at the University of Richmond I found a school that had a chance to be a national champion in a playoff system.

Going to football games my freshman and sophomore years was hard without a car, but luckily I had a friend willing to take me (thanks Kate!). But the bigger problem was that I often thought I was one of the few people who equated Saturdays with college football.

My sophomore year, things started to get better. I managed to convince my family to buy tickets to the Family Weekend game, but my mom and sisters said they didn't want to stay the full three hours.

That changed when they saw Tim Hightower. He scored four touchdowns, we stayed for the whole game and my family now travels to more games than most of the student body.

But I've also noticed a change in the students ever since Nov. 10, 2007. At the end of the team's five-overtime win at the University of Delaware, I could hear cheers throughout my dorm from those of us listening to the Spider Sports Network.

About a month later, the team played in the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals for the first time in school history. My vision of a thrilling four years as a college football fan was starting to come true.

During the spring of 2008, Dave Clawson left the team without a head coach, but that summer I interned for someone who knew Mike London and he told me I had nothing to worry about. He could not have been more right. I thought the fall of my junior year would be miserable while most of my friends were abroad, but it ended up being my favorite semester of all.

I wouldn't say it all went smoothly - I had a hysterical breakdown after the loss to James Madison University that I'd like to take back, and I came close to having a heart attack at the end of the game against the University of Northern Iowa - but I wouldn't change it for anything.

I was The Collegian's sports editor during the season Richmond won its first NCAA national championship. I saw every playoff game, traveling further west than I ever had before, and had the best four weeks of my life.

When I finished writing my story at 4 a.m. in the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel, the only regret I had was that being in the press box meant I couldn't join Emily and my fellow students in the stands.

This year, I've left the press box. I've seen every game except the one at the University of Maine - even then, Emily and I called each other throughout Fall Break trying to make it work. I don't plan to miss another.

Standing on the field at Homecoming and seeing 11,667 fans in the stands may be my happiest memory from UR Stadium. The school spirit that was lacking my freshman year had arrived. I hope to see even more people dressed in red on Saturday.

I hate that I'm a senior and the football games will move to campus the year I move away from it. But, my dad called me two months ago to tell me that he was starting to plan our tailgate for the first game at E. Claiborne Robins Stadium and said attendance was non-negotiably mandatory for everyone in my family.

Does it matter that whatever journalism job I manage to procure would likely require me to work on Saturdays? No. Does it matter that my 18-year-old sister will be away at college? Of course not - that's why I've spent the past year dropping not-so-subtle hints that if she goes to school here I'll visit her a lot (on Saturdays, at Robins Stadium).

I can't control what will happen next year, so I'm just going to enjoy this year as much as I can. When my boyfriend of four years told me he was graduating a semester early and asked me to come to his college for the ceremony on Dec. 19, I told him not to expect me until the Spiders' season was done. All I want for Christmas is another championship in Chattanooga.

Contact staff writer Barrett Neale at barrett.neale@richmond.edu