Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Football,Shopping,and Good Friends

Needless to say this weekend was a rough one. I was shocked that we lost against Penn State and it's unfortunate the way we lost. We fought hard. It was a team effort, but we just made some mistakes at the wrong times. Coach Paterno even said it himself. We will work hard to correct things and get ready for the Badgers in Madison.

"PEOPLE LET ME TELL YOU 'BOUT (ONE OF MY) BEST FRIENDS"
One of my best friends, Josh Gaines (#47), is one of the starting defensive ends for Penn State. This was our first time playing against each other since our senior years in high school. He attended Northrop High School in Fort Wayne, while I attended Concordia. His team was pretty good and they beat us two out of three times. He was, and still is, a beast.

After the game I made the walk across the field to meet my mother and friends. Unfortunately, my father couldn't make it to the game this week. My mother gave me a big hug and kiss, like she always does. We walked through the gates into a small sea of Nittany Lion fans dressed in blue and white. There were 78 of them, to be exact. One might think that I looked at them as if they were foreigners, but that was not the case. The fans were all from Josh's family, which is basically my second family. Josh had used so many tickets that he was given his own gate at Memorial Stadium. They held a small sign to prove it. Growing up, the Gaines' house was a kind of second home to me. I spent so many nights over at their place, went to church went them, ate meals with them and went on trips with them. Josh and I went on recruiting workouts/visits together as well. Those are great memories. Josh's mother gave me a huge hug when she saw me. I thought she was going to cry for a moment.

The entire family told me how proud they were of me. I, in turn, explained to them how proud I was of "Big" Josh. Seeing them kind of took some of the sting away from such a hurtful loss. It helps you move on and remember how friendships are stronger than any one game. Too often we forget about things like that. I would've rather won on Saturday and still realized the same lessons, but it takes hard times to realize how meaningful the good times are.

MY DAY OFF
Monday is the team's day off. It was greatly appreciated by me because I really felt the need to go off and do something that had nothing to do with football. I watched some film on Wisconsin, but other than that I didn't even want to think about football. I'll have the rest of the week for that.

Once I was finished my morning classes and academic meetings, I made it a point to treat myself with some shopping. In case you didn't know, shopping is one of my favorite things to do. I think I spent three hours shopping around Bloomington. I cruised around town in my SUV listening to some John Mayer and browsing store after store. My favorite stop of the day was at Goody's over on 3rd Street. Great clothes and great prices. I bought some button ups, T-shirts, jeans, khakis and some church shoes. I also threw in some DVDs along with a couple other items.

After my Monday night class, I went to hear ESPN anchor Dana Jacobson speak. She was very informative and had many great things to say. She answered many questions and I took great notes. She has a job I just might want someday.

It is Tuesday and it's time to get on the field and get ourselves ready for the Badgers. It should be fun.

WORD FOR THE ROAD
"You can learn a line from a win and a book from a defeat." -Paul Brown, Former Cincinnati Bengals Coach

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bryan,

I've really enjoyed watching the Hoosiers play this year. Great effort Saturday, and it's good to see you keep it all in perspective. Thanks so much for the inside view, it's well thought & well written. Got a nice cigar waiting for a win this week, go get'em at Wisconsin!

Mike in Bloomington

My Big Brown Opinion said...

Keep up the great work, both on the football field and here on your blog. Let's get win #6 Saturday against Wisconsin! Go Hoosiers!

Anonymous said...

Man, it's too bad we couldn't get #47 to come to IU! That dude is a beast; I recall one time when Kellen tried to scramble out of the pocket and tried to get around him and I was surprised to see KL wasn't quick enough. My first thought was "Wow, that guy is quick!" I didn't realize he was from Ft. Wayne. Everyone has been commenting about Lewis not running more, but old #47 was one of the reasons why he couldn't. Heck, this isn't Akron - it's the big boys in the Big Ten. For all of you who think it's easy to do what Lewis did early in the season, you are wrong. You can't expect him to be able to do that against the best lines in the country, so he has to throw the ball downfield and use all of his weapons. (Which he did on Saturday.) Looking forward to Saturday, Bryan, and as long as you guys play as hard as you did against Penn State then you'll have a shot beating anyone (and will!). Go Hoosiers!

Anonymous said...

Love the blog. Keep up the good work. I was down at the game this past weekend, and (not that it's much solace) I think it shows how far the team has come over the past couple years that we were able to be driving for the winning TD in the final minute despite various setbacks throughout the game. I will be at the 13th game, no matter where it is. Good luck this weekend in Mad-town. Summon the spirit of Twaan and Levron!

lori lane said...

Bryan,

Thanks for giving us an inside look to the Hoosier football team. Yes, a tough loss but we are still behind you and ready for the win at Wisconsin!

I have a blog that I would like to share with you. It's photos and videos of the 2007 season (so far!)
I hope you will take a look at it and share it with your teammates.

http://lorilane.blogspot.com

GOOD LUCK at WISCONSIN. You can do it!

Lori Lane

Anonymous said...

Good luck, Bryan. Have a wonderful game tomorrow. Enjoy every moment of it. I enjoy your blog so much...you have a real writing talent. I'll be cheering you on every minute of the game tomorrow.

Ceejay

Rena Ball said...

Hi. I've enjoyed reading your blog. Good luck this Saturday against Ball State. You all should be able to get your 6th win so that you can "Play 13" like Coach Hep said.