A Lot To Be Thankful For

Thursday is Thanksgiving, which gives me pause to consider all that I am thankful for. The most important thing is, I'm very thankful for my family and to be able to live in these United States and a great place like Edmond, Oklahoma.

But I'm also VERY thankful - grateful even - to work at UCO. I've come to realize many things about working in athletics during my 23-year career here and the benefits far outweigh the negatives, despite the long hours that are often involved.

My main thing is, I basically get to watch games for a living. Sure, there's plenty to do before, during and after a contest -- from getting a program ready to keeping statistics to writing a post-game story -- but the gist of the matter is I watch sports. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!

Obviously, I'm more involved than a casual fan who shows up just before a game and leaves right after it, but you get the idea. In a way, I'm the ultimate Broncho super fan.

I've been very fortunate with my choice of a profession and I can honestly say that there have been precious few times when I didn't want to come to work over the years. Most of that is because of the people I work with, as many of our coaches have become my best friends.

It's fun to be around young people like our student-athletes, who really do a great job of mixing their athletic interests with their academic endeavors. There are many former student-athletes on my cell phone speed dial and I am very thankful that relationships built with "kids" 10, 15 and 20 years ago are still there.

One of the main things I've always said when describing my job is that I know far too many people who can't wait for Friday because it means their work week is over, whereas if I can't wait for Friday it means we have a game on Saturday. And even though that means I have to work on that Saturday, is it really "work" when you're watching a game?

Well, technically, I guess the answer is yes. But not to me and for that I'm very thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.