It’s almost the end of August, which means one thing…the return of football, my favorite sport. The calendar inching closer and closer to September signifies incoming cooler weather, hours upon hours of college and NFL football games, and even days spent outside at the soccer field. To put it lightly, it’s my favorite time of the year.

The sport of women’s basketball has come so far since its inception. It’s seen the rise of dominant college teams like LSU and South Carolina and the master strategy of head coaches like Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma. It has also seen the growth of different professional leagues, including the WNBA. Join me as we shine a historical spotlight on Cheryl Miller, one of the keystone women who helped bring women’s basketball into the national conversation.

Black Americans have participated in and made numerous contributions to sports throughout history. Oftentimes, athletic progress and achievement for Black Americans has come from “breaking the color barrier” in professional leagues to force widespread cultural change. However, there’s a long history of racism, segregation, and discrimination that most Black athletes have had to endure. Join me as we shine a historical spotlight on one of the greatest running backs of all time, James Nathaniel Brown.

Women’s college basketball has exploded in popularity over the last few years. The sport has seen phenomenal teams and athletes really put everything on the line to beat opponents and make their sport more relevant. With the guidance of their coach, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks won this year’s NCAA championship game against Iowa and put a cherry on top of a perfect undefeated season. Join me as we shine a historical spotlight on the great legend Dawn Staley.

Unofficially, Kris and I are on a tour to see as many NCAA stadiums and college towns as we can. We love seeing different schools when Georgia is playing a game, within reason of course. If it’s something short notice, anything under two hours of travel is doable; however, if we plan in advance, realistically any distance is feasible. We consider ourselves part of the Road Dawg community and have traveled for soccer and football games so far.

The fall is great for lots of reasons. Cooler weather brings promises of sweaters, hoodies, and pumpkin spice lattes. There’s plenty of holiday joy to look forward to. The leaves are turning beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow and the days are getting shorter. One of my absolute favorite things about the fall is the return of football.

However, you can’t describe the feeling of being in a packed stadium with loud, obnoxious fans during a huge moment in a game. The feeling of being on the edge of your seat when you play an equally matched opponent. The pure joy of getting a stop on defense and then scoring on offense. The chants, the cheers, the band, the music all combine to make game day its very own special experience.

I, on the other hand, never enjoyed watching the sport. I always thought it was too slow paced and I didn’t understand the rules. I was confused why the pitcher would throw so many pitches during a sequence and only a few in another sequence. Balls and strikes looked too similar to each other for me to tell the difference. At times the game whizzed by and at others it dragged on slower than a snail.