I understand more than I once did.

It’s not that I don’t care. Well, I don’t care as much as some people.

I just didn’t grow up with football. My school was small. We didn’t have a football team. In fact, my younger brother was on the school’s first football team in 1998.

My dad is a grease monkey and would rather be watching racing. Mom is a teacher and “Tom-boy” who’s favorite sport is baseball.

So you have me. One of the handful of southerners who can’t tell you what’s really going on.

OK, so it isn’t really that bad…anymore.

Football didn’t matter to me in high school. The only reason I attended games in college was because it was “strongly recommended” that Greeks make appearances at the games. It was more of a social event.

It wasn’t until I got my first real job as a journalist that I became aware of some of the game basics.

I was a television photog (a job I LOVED, by the way). That meant “Friday Night Football Fever” during the fall. Each of the seven photographers would cover three to five games a night, depending on the distance traveled.

The object was to hit a game, grab a few highlights from the field, cheerleaders, band and stands…then head to the next location. On the way, we’d call in the plays to base (the station) so that when we arrived back, all we had to do was edit the video. It was usually a close call. Because of the hour or more distance we’d travel to a game, in some cases the video was ready only seconds before the sports anchor began to read the script.

At any rate, I was forced to learn a little about the game. When I was training, I’d watch some of the guys who’d been in business a while shoot, then climb back in their units (vehicles) and call back the plays they liked without even having written anything down.

That just wasn’t me. I faked it.

Sorry Jeff and Andre (my mentors), I hate to destroy the illusion that I had some sort of clue what I was doing.

I recruited a friend, Justin, who worked in production to ride with me on Fridays. I taught him about shooting. He taught me a little about football. Mostly, I’d shoot and if it was a good play…I’d get Justin to write down what happened. It was teamwork at its finest.

So, I do know the basics. But not much more.

And now, I’ve been recruited to take part in this “expert” panel for the paper who’ll try to pick who will win upcoming college games.

Riiiiiight.

Can you predict that by choosing the team that wears your favorite color? ;~)

Maybe I need to find a patient football guru to show me the ropes.

I’m not as clueless as I was a few years back. But if you guys have pointers…feel free to throw them my way.