I guess I learned the first lesson in doing a blog and that is to double check the whole publishing thing. I only hope I’ve gotten it right this time.

We’re just 8 days from the start of the 2007 Memphis football season. And call me unrealistic, looking through blue colored glasses or maybe even delusional but I’m a fan who thinks this will be a very special year. I have always thought that the Tigers will win every game they take the field or court. I leave realism for other things in life.

In the past 4 years, I have dealt with my mother being really sick and eventually passing away. My father has been through a dramatic drop in his health including a triple bypass. My mother in law has had a heart attack, bypass surgery with complications and now she’s been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. I have also lost one of my best friends who passed away just a month or so before the Tigers last bowl game.

Why do I tell you complete strangers all this? That’s pretty simple. I leave realism when I get to the Highland Hundred parking lot. I leave it every time I get in my car to go on the road to see the Tigers play. I leave it behind when I take my seat in the FEF. Because it is those places where I can get away from the really real things in life. I know the perspective.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the Tigers. But I love the University of Memphis just as much. See it is about more than the teams that represent us. It is about making our school grow. The sports teams are a way to help them grow. Statistics have shown that on-the-field successes have lead to increased enrollment.

To take that a step further, an on-campus stadium would do wonders for the school. I’ve been to all but one C-USA East school, UCF. I’ll be there next month. We’ll be the first opponent in the brand, spanking new on-campus football facility. That now leaves Memphis, UAB and Tulane as the only three C-USA schools without an on-campus facility. Memo the leadership at the school, the best way to get people to be on campus is to have events that attract people. I hate to tell ya but academic events won’t draw 40,000 plus to the campus. A football game will. A graduation in that football stadium will. A concert in that football stadium will. I only hope that they can see that. And I haven’t even gotten to the case for getting us into a BCS league. That will come later.

I’ll write a lot this week as a lot is going on. Fanfest is tomorrow and I hope every Tigers fan in the city will be there. The first Highland Hundred meeting is Tuesday night at the Botanic Gardens. If you support the Tigers then come out to that meeting it’s a good way to meet other Tigers fans and further support the football program.

Later

j