Today I am thankful for the last two minutes of football games.

11.16.19

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When I was a kid, I loved the TV show Punky Brewster. It was on Sunday nights. I didn't watch a lot of TV when I was little and my parents were fairly strict about what my sister and I could and couldn't watch. But Punky was on the approved list and I loved it! She was funny and kind of sassy and oh, so fashionable.

I remember waiting and waiting for Punky Brewster to come on each Sunday night. It was often delayed due to football games. I'd go down to the basement at 6:00 only to find my dad watching the last few minutes of a football game. I recall checking the game clock and being relieved to see that only a couple minutes remained of the game. But week after week the last 2 minutes on the game clock would last an eternity. It was often half an hour later before that stupid football game was over and my beloved Punky came on. I didn't understand why the coaches kept calling time outs and why every single little thing seemed to warrant a stop of the game clock. I didn't know much about football, other than it stood between me and my favorite show. I cursed those stupid final 2 minutes.

I actually didn't care much about football until a few years ago. I only went to high school football games because I had a bunch of friends in marching band. I think the only game I attended in college was parents' weekend my freshman year. I only ever watched the Super Bowl for the half-time entertainment and the commercials. But a few years ago I attended my cousin's football game and became kind of interested. I must've asked my Uncle Todd about a million questions, but I soon understood the basics of the game.

My folks are huge Cyclone fans. They're both proud Iowa State alum and when they moved back to Ames a number of years ago, they found themselves back in the middle of Cyclone territory. They have ISU football season tickets as well as both men's and women's basketball season tickets. I attended a couple of men's basketball games with them when I was home a couple of Christmases ago and it was impossible not to get caught up in the excitement. That same visit, we watched the ISU football team eek out a victory in the Liberty Bowl, and I'd officially caught Cyclone fever.

Who'd have guessed that I'd be someone who now follows ISU football fairly closely? I know the players by name and I record all the games so I can cheer my boys on!

Last week's game was a heart-wrencher. ISU came back from a huge deficit only to lose by one point at the very last second. It was an intense final two minutes and I was, quite literally, on the edge of my seat. It was a devastating loss.

The final 2 minutes of today's game were just as intense, but the Cyclones pulled off the W with a game-winning field goal with just 4 seconds left, making ISU bowl eligible for the 3rd year in a row. .

Now that I understand and appreciate the game of football, I can see why the last two minutes often last for half an hour. There's a lot of strategy involved in how those last 2 minutes are played -- especially if it's close. In fact, the last 2 minutes are often the most exciting 2 minutes of the whole game.

There's probably some deep life metaphor somewhere in there if you wanted to explore it -- something about eeking every last meaningful moment out of life before it's over -- carpe-ing the diem or something like that. I'm going to leave that alone, though, and for now just appreciate the excitement, intensity, and adrenaline rush of the final few minutes that I used to curse as a kid. Today those final 2 minutes meant victory over Texas and a lot of very, very happy Cyclone fans -- self included.