Bucket list

Last summer I started to put a series together of bucket list items that were on my to do list. I planned to write about them individually and share with you to spark a debate and conversation, but unfortunately life and work, mostly work took over and it never really got off the ground.

I’ve always been a lists guy, always ran with some sort of bucket list, but as you get older these things come a lot more into focus.

Where I was on Saturday, and that was not in front of Charlton TV, was I feel something every sporting fan should have on their bucket list.

Going to watch an American college football game, of the gridiron variety, especially in the south of the country was long ago ticked off my list as I have been fortunate enough to do it a number of times, but stood in the vast University of Texas stadium (capacity: 105,000) on Saturday afternoon as clouds of burnt orange smoke hung in the air made me think of what a wonderful experience it is.

I long got over my cynicism of watching American sport live, and college is a lot more akin to football (soccer) in Europe due to the tribalism’s and atmosphere’s that creates, yet it is still watching college school kids play sport of which 99% of them won’t ever turn pro.

So, that is worth remembering but it is also part of the appeal. Think NBA games where gigantic athletes hurtle up and down the basketball court and rarely miss a basket from all kinds of distances. In college that simply doesn’t happen because the players are not as good. Yet what they give up in proficiency, they add in absolute heart.

The SEC conference has been mucked around with by the NCAA power brokers, sponsors and TV, just like they are faffing around with most sports including swimming, which we know a fair bit about.

College sport has changed due to players being paid for image rights, the new transfer portal allows players to move, and schools to poach, and the insane amount of money in the game just gets more insane. The highest paid college football coach gets paid $13.2 million a year.

However, there is no denying that it has brought more jeopardy and much more excitement to games and the American public and the TV companies are lapping it up.

What hasn’t changed is the downright loyalty of college sports fans, especially in the south where these huge stadiums are sold out each and every Saturday.

The rivals are massive, matching only those you find in European and South American football, the round kind. Although to be honest the Florida Gators fans that were ‘giving it out’ to those Texas Longhorns fans all around them on Saturday would’ve been slapped at The Den, and probably even by me at The Valley.

However it did make for a great atmosphere and the game which swung like a pendulum was eventually won by the University of Florida 27-24.

I was supporting Texas but of course live in Florida, so I could hardly lose.

103,989 was the official attendance with possibly 10,000 blue-shirted Florida fans spread around the stadium in patches making themselves known. In American professional sports, travelling fans are unheard off at least to any real degree.

Austin is in central Texas, the state capitol with its ‘sunset red’ granite brickwork at the heart of it close to the vast confines of the University. Austin is a wonderfully vibrant city full of music venues, art galleries and creatives.

Add both a game and a visit to Austin to your bucket list’s.