Centre Football's Spring Jamboree

What's not to love about leaving beautiful weather, driving in the rain for 2 1/2 hours, sitting around in the rain for several more, eating cold beans, and driving back in the dark for 2 1/2 hours...in the rain. What is it with me and Centre College and the rain? It rained miserably the last time I went there. The things we do for our kids. Weather aside, they did do their best to carry-on.

When we arrived, we watched a highlight reel with the other commited recruits and their families. Head Coach Frye talked about the program, about commitment and turned some time over to graduating seniors for their words of wisdom to the incoming class about academics. About this time the Football Alumni began their football game out in the rain. Brian took Dani and Jake out to watch while I stayed with Kirk through the analysis of the summer workout program.

The workout program was easy to understand but will demand a great deal from Kirk. On August 15th, we're allowed to move him into his dorm. It's two weeks ahead of the rest of the student body which is great. He'll be unpacked, have already bought his books, and be settled in long before the rest of the student body shows up. Here's the catch. At midnight on the 15th, after he's been moving his mini-fridge, boxes, set up his computer, and maybe the futon he thinks he's going to save up for, the football team will report to the field for their conditioning test. It's just such a college thing to do. I love that his first night away at school will be grunting and running. We'll have pizza in his honor.

After the workout rundown, we joined everyone else out in the rain to watch an offense vs. defense 7 on 7 game. It was cold and wet. Thank goodness the cafe was open and we could get some hot chocolate.

At least Danielle wasn't too loud about her boredom and not wanting her picture taken after rain had threatened to mess up her hair.

The best part of the running around going on down by the field (this was the first time we'd been in the stadium by the way) was the lineman challenge. They had a timed obstacle course.

And they ran a 4x100 relay with a football instead of a baton. That was hilarious. More forward and lateral passes there than traditional hand-offs.

While all this silliness was going on, the announcer offered a door prize for a triva question. The question was: What year did Centre win the national championship? We could hear several people around us, including Brian, muttering the answer, 1921. No one wanted to move from whatever space of dry warmth they were huddled in, however, to claim the prize. No one except Jacob, of course. He ran to the press box, pounded his way in a claimed his prize, a Centre hat. He was SO excited about having a Centre hat!

As soon as Jake had claimed his prize we heard over the PA system, The answer to our trivia question was 1921 and the prize has been claimed by Jacob Morra, little brother of Freshman Kirk Morra. Kirk was down on the track and turned to look up at us as soon as he heard his name. Brian looked at him and then over at me and said, "That's the first time we've heard his name over the speaker in this stadium." It was a little moment.

The entire time we were sitting there in the rain, we were smelling the pig that had been roasting southern style since 3:00 am. Finally, the events ended with a tug of war and group hug/huddle/cheer that included the new "freshmen." They grunted, clapped and sang the fight song. Kirk left the huddle and said, "Dang, now I have to actually learn the fight song."

We went indoors to eat the pulled pork sandwiches, bean, slaw, brownies. This was not a gourmet feast. The pork was awesome, but there was no extra sauce, the beans were cold, the slaw was runny and the lemonade watered down. They also ran out of food. The last 30 people in the door didn't get fed. Well, the brownies were good.

While we ate, we got a pep talk from the Centre's president and then Coach Frye paired all the freshmen up with their upperclassman "buddy." His name is Chase Porter, he'll be a senior in the fall, he's also a running back, and he looks like he could be Kirk's long lost older brother! They exchanged cell numbers and I think it will be a good friendship. Kirk said in his conversations with Chase that he's had a few injuries and really isn't any competition for Kirk. He's just there to finish his four years and enjoy being part of the team. Kirk is hungry to play.

Before we left, Kirk got to meet in person the other freshman he's been chattin with a lot on Facebook. He's also from Ohio, also a pre-med major, and is a wide-receiver. They've decided they're going to be roommates and I was glad we got a chance to meet his family.

Overall, it was a very productive, fun trip. Except for the rain. I'm looking forward to seeing the campus in the sun someday.