I was raised by a single mom and I can honestly say the only thing that she was unable to give me emotionally was the desire to watch football all weekend. Then I left for college.

At Auburn I became fully immersed in all things a large University had to offer and by going to one of the greatest schools in the Southeastern Conference gameday was an essential part of my college “education”, and quite possibly the only part of it I still use today.

So here I am 12 years later and my gameday experience has changed dramatically. I have spent the past 5 ½ years trying to figure out how to effectively watch my beloved auburn tigers without the distraction of my 4 children 5 and under. My typical strategy was easy on a night game and difficult on a day game. If the game was at 3:30 I would record the game, turn off all social media, and begin every conversation during the day with “don’t tell me anything about the game” then once the kids were in bed I would grab a cold beer and press play.

This year we moved into a new house before college football season, and I had the brilliant idea to save money on cable and buy a pair of HD rabbit ears instead because “we really didn’t watch much TV anyway”, right? Sort of. My genius idea began to go terribly wrong because although I tried rabbit ears don’t record anything, and my VCR had long since been sent to goodwill even if they still sold blank VHS tapes.

So the 2013 season began and hopes were pretty low for my Auburn Tigers so the thought of missing a game here and there didn’t seem like the absolute end of the world. Little did I know the magic 2013 would bring. I had to do the unthinkable. Actually watch a game with my 5 year old, 3 year old, and 2 1 year olds, and the miracle that has been for Auburn became a miracle for me.

The first part of a game we watch was the Auburn Georgia game. I had planned it perfectly. It was a 3:30 game and I could have the game on and watch it with distraction for the first and second quarters, put them to bed at halftime and watch the game in peace towards the end. All was going according to plan when, with 1 minute left in the game my 3 year old and 5 year old walked out of their bedroom (past their bedtime). Typically I would walk them back to their room and remind them not to get out of bed, but with one minute left I said “why don’t you sit and watch the last minute with us”.

What a last minute it was. On a hail mary pass two Georgia defenders went up for the ball, tipped it in the air and allowed Louis to make miracle catch. My wife and I jumped to our feet and were screaming and running around cheering…so were our kids. I’m not sure they even knew what was happening but they began jumping around clapping saying “War Eagle!”. Bedtime took a bit longer that night as Trey wanted to act out the amazing catch over and over again. It was awesome.

Two weeks later another 3:30 game came on. The Iron Bowl. The excitement in our house grew and grew and when I put our daughter down for a nap at 1 she was crying for fear of “missing the football game”. It, as well, didn’t disappoint. We all were there, in the living room with the fire on watching the Auburn Tigers pull out another miracle. More cheering ensued, more hi-fives, war eagles, and delayed bedtimes.

While I thought what we had done was created Auburn fans for life I am more convinced that  it had nothing to do with game winning catches or last second plays. It had to do with our little ones seeing their parents cheer, scream, dance, and laugh regardless of the situation. Our kids loved what we loved. They cheer when we cheer and they dance when we dance.

So now I think about those other things I do, or don’t do. I think about the motivation that our kids have or don’t have, and I look at my reactions to these things.

Football is just a game, but my kids lives are real and their hopes and dreams are, for a brief time, in my hands. While Ricardo Louis will forever be the guy that won the Georgia Game there is no doubt no one will remember my involvement in the win(or lack thereof).  What will be remembered however is involvement I have in my kids successes and failures. Do I jump up and down when my kids make good choices, when they do well in school? Do I show such unashamed emotion during their school plays, or recitals and elicit the same responses from them, or will I be checking my email or returning a phone call.

Will I be living in social media posts, or “liking” or “sharing” others success, or will I be clapping and raving about the life I lead.

And my wife, when was the last time I cheered for her? When was the last time we danced together when she had a great day, or exploded with joy when she experienced a big win?

So thank you Gus Malzahn, thank you Ricardo Louis and Nick Marshall, and truly that’s now why I believe in Auburn, and love it.