Can't Sleep

I used to not have any problems...sleeping.  Go to bed at 10ish every night.  Wake up to alarm about 5:45.  Like clockwork. All that changed a few years ago.  Now, I can't get to sleep and when I do, it's only 3-4 hours. And it is not regular, either. Like tonight.  Re-watched the UT-Kansas game for the sixth time.  Fell asleep in the Lazyboy about the time Colt was pulled from the game and wide awake at 2:30.   I'm not sure if I will ever be able to sleep like a baby again.  And to make matters worse, I know exactly when and why my sleep pattern changed.

The problem started shortly after I turned 40.  This lanky kid from Houston started playing a game of football that had not been witnessed since the days of Roger Staubach during my birh year. 

Man, was it possible that we had found our ticket to the promised land?  We kept a watchful eye and every week that rolled by we were left eye-gawking and open-mouthed at his talent.  We talked at the coffee pot on Monday about the young man's heroics and fantasized about championship opportunities.

His junior year delivered on everything the preseason predicted.  It was such a fun ride save for yet another loss to OU.  But Coach Brown was able to out-PR the smokin' lefties from Berkley and the coming out party in Pasadena was my reward.  Posted previously, my boy got one of the all time great souvenirs as a youngster.  We even got the the VIP treatment with tickets, pavilion passes, and Tournament of Roses Parade bleacher seats from a friend of a customer who did business with this guy who new the Executive V.P. of Operations who reported to the CEO of Nike, etc. etc.  I could not imagine at the time it could possibly get any better.

Chip off the old block, right there.

But wait, it did.  Our golden boy from Houston was just getting started.  His, "We'll be back" commentary was quaint and "in the moment".  We all wanted to believe.  Believe that we were starting our journey back to the throne of CFB.  After all the almost opportunities and waste of talent the previous 30 years it was very difficult to go "all in".  Human nature has whatcha call a built-in mechanism know as self-preservation or something like that.  I think we all know what I'm talking about so no comments from displaced longhorn, please.  We were glued on the edge of our seats watching every move of the '05 team.  Every waking moment was spent thinking of next week's game, how would we keep our BCS slot, and please do not allow any one of our playmakers suffer injury.  It was indeed, ahem, a dream season.

Once we ascended the mountain and won that MNC, it was finished.  The ride was over...but not really.  Little did we know, or possibly could we know, that a small kid from a small west Texas town in the middle of nowhere who redshirted in obscurity during that championship season would somehow compete with the '04-'05 ride.  But that scrappy kid has over achieved beyond our wildest imagination.  And what a ride we have had the last 4 years.  Here we are on the next to last tread with one foot on the landing.  Just wow!

All well and good, right?  But that is not why my sleep pattern changed.  It changed because of this damn blog.  I do not recall exactly how I discovered this site or why this one above others caught my attention, but it is definitely the root of my sleeping problems.  Either I am reading all postings and thinking of responses or calculating thoughts I want to initiate and share with others.  It.has.become.the.10000.pound.gorilla in my world.  I will say I have been lucky that my non-sportsfan wife of almost 22 years supports my habit and both of my kids are HUGE fans so I do not have to worry about nagging family issues.

My boy...Warrior Longhorn Fan!

So here we are on the precipice again.  One more win and it's back to where the ride started 6 years ago.  Too nervous to even breathe.  I can only imagine what is going through Coach Boom's and Coach Applewhite's minds right now.  Two of the best young-gun coaches in CFB right there and I'm sure they are like two kids back in college all knotted up.  Damn it's good to be a Horn fan.

But I will take less sleep and more Horns.  Just keep bringing it.  I'm not sure I speak for everyone who participates on this board but from the bottom of my heart, just want to take a time-out to say thanks to PB, along with Awiggo and GBR, who birthed this baby and nurtured it along to the blog beast it is today.  And also to the other contributors who should be writing for a living (maybe you do).  A very special thanks to dime who keeps us current with the daily comings and goings.  If there was a Pulitzer for blog participation you get my vote.  I can honestly say with all the free content on the interweb, I would gladly subscribe to this board if called upon.  A big-hearted THANKS to all here who have made this going on 6-year ride all the more memorable.

But all the same, I could use a little more sleep.

Now, let's go pop some corn.

Hook 'Em.