Go Hens!

My mom just called to tell me how my dad’s knee-replacement surgery went: Not so good. Well, he’s fine and all, though a little groggy still. The surgery began at 7:30 and lasted five hours. It shouldn’t have gone that long. Turns out, the surgeon inadvertently broke one of the bones around the knee (I’m not sure which one.) Normally, after a knee-replacement, they get the patient up and walking that very day and send them home after two or three. My dad won’t go home until Tuesday and won’t be able to put weight on that leg for six weeks. He was thinking he’d be able to tackle stairs in a couple weeks; he will not be happy when the haze wears off a little later.

Segue: But hopefully the fog will clear in time for him to watch ESPN2 and cheer for the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens as they take on the Mountaineers of Appalachian State University in the Division I Football National Championship Game in Chattanooga tonight at 8 o’clock. Both my parents are UD alumni and I’m a Blue Hen by birth. Appalachian State, of course, is the team that opened the season with the much-celebrated upset of No. 5-ranked Michigan, and it has been pointed out that there is one other college football team in the land with the same uniforms as the Wolverines, albeit featuring a different (and much more attractive) shade of blue: The ol’ U of D. Even without this unsettling parallel, the Mountaineers are certainly the favorite as they go for their third straight national championship.

It is on rare occasions like this that I actually wish we had the channels on our TV beyond basic cable. As such, I may have to visit a sports bar or very quickly make a friend who gets the Deuce so I can cheer on the pride of my home state. You can imagine that, as a Delawarean, opportunities to do so are few and far between. Not a lot comes out of the First State besides chickens, chemicals, and most of the junk mail you get from credit card companies. If you like college football, watch the game: it is the only Division I Championship Game. None of that bowl shit. These two teams played their way to ‘Nooga.

(On a side note, my lady friend and I were going to get tickets and make the 2-hour drive, but they quickly sold out at $20 apiece. On-line scalpers had them for $200. Damn it all.)