Family, Dawg House, 'Bottom Line' - College Football Saturdays

There's nothing like Saturdays in the fall. My two older brothers and I used to wake up and scan through the local newspapers, checking high school football scores from the night before. Like clockwork, we'd make a trip to the Dawg House, a hamburger and hot dog joint just up the road from our two-story home in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. Perhaps we should have not visited the nearby restaurant so much, as my recent attempts to fit in size-34 pants have failed miserably, but that's neither here nor there. We always tried to time our lunch outing so that we'd be home and back on the couch for Saturday's first kickoff.

Dad, Will (oldest brother), Brett (middle) and I typically flipped to one of the local channels for the RAYCOM Game-of-the-Week, which featured a contest between a pair of ACC schools. Of course, we would have already noted which games were shown on ESPN and ESPN2 simultaneously. We had to occupy our time during commercial breaks of the ACC game somehow. ESPN frequently aired a Big Ten tilt from 12-3, prompting Pops' weekly joke about football in the Midwest - "I'd rather watch two goats fighting over a turnip." Fortunately, goat fighting wasn't on the TV Guide docket most Saturdays. Games from 12-3, a highlight show for a half-hour, then another set of games that kicked off around 3:30 - it was our routine and the four of us were and remain creatures of habit.

Then came the night games. The primetime slots featured the weekend's best matchups, but it also kicked off the family's second big meal of the day. Both reasons played critical roles in deeming the seven o'clock hour a Hickman favorite. You probably get where I'm going with all this. We didn't channel surf on Saturdays to find a good movie. Pigskin was all we knew. We craved it, and wouldn't have it any other way. Those days preceded perpetual use of the smart phone and Internet, thus eight eyes in the Hickman family living room were peeled on the ESPN 'Bottom Line' scoreboard ticker, between plays of course. It was always gut-wrenching seeing Wake Forest, my childhood "team," trailing by a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

I recall one instance vividly, the tracker reported a Wake upset over Northwestern in the season opener. I couldn't have been happier than I was in those short, glorious moments, only to see my squad lose eight of its next 11 tilts and plummet to the bottom-half of the league standings. I took solace in Duke usually finishing dead last during those seasons, which pleased us all. My fanaticism for the Demon Deacons was growing exponentially at a time when my happiness revolved around the 'Bottom Line' report on Wake's success, or lack thereof, usually the latter. I proudly rooted for a perennial cellar-dweller, which I still consider a remarkable accomplishment. On the other hand, the constant heartache did however provide me great practice.

You see, Dad planted his love for the NFL's Washington Redskins into Brett and I at a young age, before we were dumb enough to actually cheer for the Cowboys. I firmly believe the grief I dealt with as a Wake supporter facilitated the development of a certain numbness to Washington's ineptitude as a franchise, which has endured for the greater portion of my life. Wake's hiring of head coach Jim Grobe sparked a remarkable turnaround for the football program in Winston-Salem. With fingers crossed, I predict the selection of Robert Griffin III in this year's draft, which led me to believe team owner Daniel Snyder may have a brain after all, will lead to significant improvement on the gridiron in our nation's capital.

Even my mother peeked in her boys' college football theater periodically. First to make sure we were all breathing -- close games are still tough on us all -- and secondly to pick up on a handful of notable scores and key plays, which she commonly referenced the following week in an effort to impress us. Mom always knew what was going on during the action on Saturday somehow. Even more shocking was her ability to pick up on our commentary to learn the game. Still today, if a team faces a third-and-1 in the opponent's territory Mama Gail chimes in, "Run the quarterback sneak twice." It's a beautiful thing. Now we're working on my girlfriend, who last year asked me what a first down was during one of Brett's game last year at North Greenville. Apparently that information is not addressed during episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress." However, Maggie is making strides, mostly because she has no alternative - sorry, dear.

Our passion for the game flows through our veins. I don't have the records present but surely it's in our DNA somewhere.

And Maggie, too, will gain a better understanding of the game we love so deeply. Sara, a coach's wife to the core and fantasy football junkie, has spent the early stages of the 2012 campaign learning the intricacies of defending the triple option. I'll take baby steps with Mags. Before Monday Night Football this week, she will know the purpose of the pregame coin toss. Wish me luck...

Check out "I Think, Therefore I (S)am" Sunday evening for a recap of Saturday's college football action. I'll also explain why Alabama will not be challenged on its way to capturing the Tide's third national championship in the last four years.