Go Skyhawks!

I always pictured Jack's first college football game as a big SEC match-up and that was actually planned for this season when Alabama goes to Oxford to take on Ole Miss. However, with both teams in the top 5, tickets are pretty hard to come by, not to mention that I'm not getting any smaller or more comfortable. It turned out that the perfect first game for Jack was Travis's and my own Alma Matter, University of Tennessee at Martin, that came to Memphis to take on the Tigers yesterday. During college football season, you're hard pressed to find a game we all agree on. From a very young age, Jack learned that Mommy says "Roll Tide!", Daddy says "Go Bols (Vols)!", MiMi says "Hotty Toddy!" and Carl says "Go Dogs!". I guess he's used to all the conflict because every time this week when Travis would ask Jack who he was going to cheer for at the game, he said "Go Tigers!" even after we repeatedly coached him on "Go Skyhawks!".

Several of Travis's fraternity brothers were coming down to tailgate for the game, as well as the big tent the University was putting up, so we headed down early for a 7 PM kickoff to enjoy all the festivities. I should mention that in all the excitement, Jack didn't nap. We've now learned the best method to get him to nap isn't to tell him after his nap we're going to do something exciting. We listened to him chatter for one hour before hearing the baby gate come crashing down and seeing Jack running to our bedroom. I should call it a dog gate because that's what it's used for - to keep the dogs pinned up during the day and to keep them out of his room at night. Anyways, the 10-minute power nap on the way to the stadium must have done the trick because he couldn't have been better. Here's a few pictures of Travis, Jack and the boys tailgating before the game. Travis set up his laptop in the back of the Pathfinder and everyone crowded around to watch the TN/FL game. I think Jack thought they were crowding around to see him.

It looks like Jack is wearing his Tiger blue, but the Polo horse on the shirt is actually orange. I do the majority of Jack's clothes shopping and I've never bought orange in my life, so this was as good as it got for Jack wearing UTM colors. When we were in school, I thought they were blue and orange, but apparently, they're now navy and orange. I have to also mention that I saw more of a UTM football game last night than in my entire 4 1/2 years at Martin. The team was terrible back then and the only games we went to were BBQ (put on by my sorority) and Homecoming and even then we might have stayed for a quarter. Now they actually make the play-offs and tailgate before the games. My how times have changed. Here's Big Jack (our Jack), Travis, Ryan, Maddie and Little Jack McDaniel. Travis and Ryan actually pledged together and Ryan's wife has kept Jack some in the past.

Jack got pretty sick of the tailgating pretty fast and kept reminding everyone we introduced him to that he was going to the ballgame. We showed him the tall stadium lights and told him that was the ballgame, so he kept saying "I going to the tall lights.". It sprinkled rain once, so we got in the car and he sat in my lap acting like he was driving, the whole time saying "I driving to the tall lights to see ballgame!". The Skyhawk walked by once and we tried to get a picture, but Jack wasn't having it. When he walked away, Jack said "I scared of him!". He spent the entire game, however, looking for the "Red Bird" (confused over the Memphis Redbirds, I guess), "Hawk" and "Big Bird". Here he is pointing him out to us.

It could not have been a more perfect game for Jack. The weather was great, it wasn't crowded and he got to stand up and move around the whole time. We stayed for 3 quarters, only leaving because I was exhausted and not him! He was a complete trooper and watched every single play, all the while enjoying Mini Melts (Dippin' Dots), a blue snocone, popcorn and nachos. Here he is with his popcorn. Looks like quite a tub for such a small guy, but there wasn't much left of it when he was done.

We pulled into the garage at 11 PM and Jack slept until 9:30 this morning. He woke up and requested to wear his ball shirt. I think he'll fit into this family of fans just fine!