native foreigner: Soon to be veterans...

But still a big bunch of rookies.

I am talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars, whom I have recently become a little more cognizant of as part of my I-was-raised-on-football-and-will-now-start-paying-attention-to-it plan. [Ed. Note... this blog is slightly convoluted.]

Football has been practically a foundation of my upbringing, with my Uncle Gary playing for Florida State Football in the late 1960's and helping to start the ever so intense rivalry between FSU and Florida on that long grassy field. Football was never not around, in one form or another.

Uncle Gary.

I then happened to marry a man who comes from another seriously ingrained family of Florida State Athletics, perhaps even more so than my Cash-Pajcic connection, that of the Long's. Mike Long, Justin's grandfather, was the first coach FSU ever had after the school switched from an all girls university to co-ed. He coached every single sport they had, but eventually went on to focus solely on track. [At one point, Mike Long tried to recruit my uncle, the quarterback of the football team, to join the track team, but to no avail.] The track at Florida State University is now named Mike Long Track.

Our families are both so involved in Florida State sports that I once ran into Justin's father and uncle at the FSU Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony for my uncle [amongst some other greats]. Because you know, that's the kind of place you go to see people and be seen.

Mike Long Track.

Point being... although Justin and I are not football fanatics, or exceptionally athletic in any way [hello yoga!], we come from a long line of it. And we both respect it. So we decided this year to make a true valiant effort to watch football. So far, we have been pretty successful regardless of the fact that our two teams, FSU and the Jaguars, are doing less than stellar. We are fans!

This blog is about the Jaguars, though. [Hello convolution. I warned you.]

Rooaaaarrrr.

On Sunday, my buddy Wanda and I got invited to the game by my great friend Mary and the organization she works for, Best Buddies International. We sat with the Honor Row students [they were awesome/adorable/excited/fun] and had a pretty good view of the field from way up in the sky.

Wanda pulled out an impressive handful of candy she had
stashed in her pocket when I asked if she was hungry.

She was covered.

The Jags played pretty well, but some complained of them not blowing it out of the park against some measly team. I was just happy they were winning the entire time.

While we watched the game Mary scoured every inch of the program, becoming very well read in the height, weight, age, college, and years in the NFL of each player, which was then matched to a photo, which we then discussed in depth their smiles, width of necks, hairdo's, etc. The kind of things two ladies who love sports but are not exactly aficionados might do at a football game.

Will, Mary's boyfriend, explained to us how many of the players on the team were new. They were Rookies. Almost 22 of them, if I remember correctly. It's a young team, with a bunch of young players. And it shows. But one day, if the city of Jacksonville can give them the support they need to stick around, they will be veterans. It would be nice for Jacksonville to have a little bit of their own tradition. Their own "My uncle has owned these seats for thirty years" kind of thing. Their own deeply rooted connection to this city and the people in it.

And to top it off, as today is Veteran's Day, a huge mass of young men and women were inducted into the United States Armed Forces during half time. We cheered from way up high, and even sang along a few verses of one of the best songs of all time, "God Bless the USA".