221.7 Miles
Next week I will take a trek that I adore. I will be driving up with my lovely wife and my best friend of many years. We will spend a weekend up among people that started out as gamer buddies on the internet. How crazy am I, right? Not crazy at all. I'm pumped up for this.
Last year I made one of the best trips I have made in my life. I drove to Dallas on a Friday night. The next morning I joined with the Inferno and Matador and some of my close friends to ride to Houston for a match. THAT was an incredible amount of fun.
Austin is a pretty happening place... don't get me wrong. I grew up in Austin from the age of 9. I went to middle school and high school and played a few sports. University of Texas - Austin dominates all of the local athletic scene. We have a few minor league sport franchises (Texas Stars, Round Rock Express, Austin Toros) and will soon have an F1 race track... Moto GP along with it perhaps. I spent some time up in Dallas, so I did adopt the Mavericks some time ago as my team. I hate Jerry Jones and stopped loving the Cowboys way back when he fired Jimmy Johnson. So I have my teams... UT Football, UT Basketball, Dallas Mavs... but there was still a hole there. What about baseball? I have a passing interest in UT baseball, but only because it is local and easy. You have a team of perennial favorites to at least go to the College World Series. Let's face it, though... the fans for any UT sporting event are... reactionary. The entire stadium or arena sit on their butt until something happens. Most of the crowd consists of old people and stuck-up business types. Ugh.
So I guess my point is... I have my options locally. Those options don't suck, either. But let's be real... going to the sporting event is only partially about how well the team does on the field. That's why I love going to FCD games. That is why I'm willing to travel 221.7 miles in each direction.
So next week I bring the people I care most about to join once again with my adoptive family. We are joined by a common bond--a need to drink together, smoke cigars (for good luck) and to march together to our section and get rowdy.
And after the game is over... and the fireworks have gone off... we go to Burger Girl and I get my usual (grilled cheese sandwich with a side of tomato soup to dip it in).
All of these reasons make every mile worth it. We gas the car... pay for food on the way up... board the dog... and spend plenty of money on beer. Hell, sometimes I even brew beer and take it up to share.
So yeah... that's why. I cannot wait.
DTID
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