By Staff
With every passing day we get a little closer to fall sports starting up.
Before you know it football camps will be opening at the professional level and college camps won't be far behind.
This past week I have filled out credential requests for the college football season.
I am starting to get excited because college football season is a special time for me and many others.
There is nothing quite like spending an afternoon in the fall on a college campus.
The first few games each year don't have the same feeling for me as a mid to late October game when the leaves are falling and there is a bit of a chill in the air.
Trust me when I tell you there is nothing like walking through a campus and smelling food cooking on the grill and the sounds of thousands of football fans having a good time.
Michigan State and Notre Dame are two of my favorite campuses to walk through on the way to the Stadium.
The stroll along side the Red Cedar River in East Lansing is beautiful when the leaves are turning.
The same can be said about Notre Dame.
Although there is no river, there is the sight of the Golden Dome gleaming in the sun and the sound of the Fighting Irish band working its way to the stadium.
It is unfortunate that I don't get that feeling when I travel to Ann Arbor to a Michigan game.
The fans are pretty much the same, but since the stadium is so close to the downtown area, it just seems a little cold.
There is no comparison, however, when it comes to walking into a stadium.
Michigan Stadium by far in the most impressive sight I have seen.
From the outside you really don't get a feel for just how big the stadium really is because you walk in and down.
But once you walk through the gates and inside, it is an awe-inspiring sight.
I can remember the days when I used to live to cover Michigan State games because of the press box food.
Hands down, Michigan State had the best food in the Big Ten and perhaps in the country.
But those days are long gone.
Michigan State's new press box is impressive, but the food, while good, just isn't quite the same.
It won't be long now and we will be packing up our cars and headed to South Bend, Ind., East Lansing and Ann Arbor.
We will be joining old friends and spending our Saturday afternoons riding the wave of emotion that is college football.
It's hard to believe that we are almost half way through July already.
The post season for our youth sports teams is upon us and in less than a month, the high schools will be busy with fall sports practice for volleyball, boys' soccer, cross country, girls' golf, boys' tennis and football.
And just a few weeks after that, competition in those sports is scheduled to begin.
By the third week of August, we will be in full swing when it comes to high school sports.
Hope to see you there!