Mr. Big-time
What’s that saying…everything is so much bigger in Texas? I’ve never been to Texas but I will tell you one place where everything is so much bigger: Division I.
I was walking down the hall the other day and out of this room pours the football team. THE football team. I was - whoa. I was short. Midgety. No, I was a hobbit minus the hairy feet. They were so tall and so huge and there were so many of them! One of them could have accidentally stepped on me and no one would have noticed.
You want to know what else is big? The campus. Somebody came into the sports info office the other day looking for the “athletics” office. Excuse me? You are in the athletics complex. There are three buildings hooked together and that houses just the official university athletic programs. That doesn’t include recreation areas or administration for the regular Joe Student. When I was back at the pond, the athletics office was one place. Division I you’ve got media relations, marketing, athletics office, business athletics, athletic foundations, need I go on? I’m not even going to delve into the campus itself. I have no idea where anything is. I know where the football stadium is and that super huge awesome press box. I know where the baseball field is (thanks Nick - I still love baseball - I scoped it out first thing!). And the track of course. But anything not related to athletics? Don’t ask me. Number one, I don’t know where it’s at. Number two, I don’t care.
The coverage is big. Fall football camp - our back conference room was filled with reporters for days, furiously tapping out day-by-day recounts of what was happening on the practice field. Men’s basketball players = tall. Women’s basketball players = not short. Volleyball players = if short, not playing except to dig up the back row. It’s insane. It’s awesome. It’s not me. Why? Because I’m short and small-town.
I’m trying to think what else is big around here besides the hills. Oh - that truck I saw this morning. No lie, the bottom of the passenger door was at my shoulder height. Huge wheels. HUGE! But who cares. You know what they say about guys who drive huge trucks like that….yeah. Very tiny items - such as self-esteem.
Oh. Big budget too. But that doesn’t affect me at all because I sure never see any of it.
