A Little Boy's Dream

The K-State game wasn't pretty on Saturday. But the fireworks were. All's well that ends well, I guess. A win is a win.

The real winners on Saturday night were the little boys in the north endzone. Back when Brent was little, we didn't have season tickets. We'd sit in the "Family Fun Zone," aka the north endzone.

They were the best seats in the house for a little boy who loved the 'Cats. He got a front-row seat as the football players came back to the locker room after the game and he slapped hands with players like Travis Ochs, Jonathan Beasley and David Allen.

Brent & his buddy Scott, November 14, 1998, KSU vs. Nebraska

After the game on Saturday night, they opened up the north endzone to get the spectators there away from the fireworks. One little boy ran pell-mell from the north endzone all the way to the south endzone and spiked his little souvenir football. As the fireworks started, most of us were focused on the sky. I'm pretty sure the imaginary football games going on in the mind's of those little K-State fans on the field were as prevalent as the smoke from the fireworks.

It made me think about my "little boy." This was the first K-State game in a long time that he wasn't working in the press box of Bill Snyder Family Stadium. He had to fork over his 10 bucks to watch the action on K-State's new HD channel on his computer screen in his South Carolina living room.

I must say I missed my game day routine of using the binoculars to find Brent in the press box. Even though part of my family was missing, I always love the family feeling of the stadium on game day.

It gives me shivers to say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing The Star-Spangled Banner with 50,000 other fans. I love hearing the Alma Mater sung by the voices around me - good singers and not so good. It's fun to see the student section erupt across the way as the strains of the Wabash Cannonball begin.

It was Smalls' first football game ... sort of. She was easy to handle this year. If she was a wiggle worm, only her mama knew it.

Next year, we'll have her decked out in K-State purple to match the rest of the family.

It was a day filled with family. Earlier, we celebrated our great-nephew Braden's 1st birthday with a house full of family and friends.

And we ended it with Coach Snyder's 150th win and a purple sky over Manhattan with our extended K-State family.

Now that's a reason to celebrate!