Two Things Can Be True in Happy Valley
Oregon, Utah, Illinois, Michigan, QBs: what’s real & what’s noise from the Sky
Week 2 is in the books.
I’m writing this from the Pittsburgh airport at 5 a.m., and I had to stop and pause. Airports have a way of holding memories, and this one holds more than most.
Last night, after calling a game in State College, my colleague Rhett Lewis and I drove west from Penn State to Pittsburgh. It’s a drive I’ve made hundreds of times. At 17, I made the inverse of that same trip knowing I had just committed to Pitt. It was after the Panthers had beaten Notre Dame in the final game at Pitt Stadium in 1999 and it confirmed my desire to compete at the highest level.
As we passed a diner I used to visit with my father, I thought to myself: Could you have imagined, back then, that one day you’d broadcast a game at Beaver Stadium? The truth? I didn’t. When you’re young, all you think about is playing, and you think you’ll play forever.
On Friday night, another colleague and friend, Ashley Adamson texted me: Just imagine what your eight-year-old self who grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania would say if he knew he would call a game here, in this stadium. That stuck with me as our crew made final preparations early Saturday morning in the rain.
Walking the field in pre-game rain starting to come down and as the smell of the grass and the pre-game warmup does with every former player–I just wanted to play, one more time, one more snap.