By the time this decade rolled around the biggest jokes were about Y2K. Tiger Woods was starting to dominate golf and make headlines. Ten years later Tiger is still making headlines and although Y2K was a short lived fear, the past ten years might have been the most defining decade of my life.
When I look back at my life (now and in the future) I will probably look at the 2000s as the most influential decade of my life. I began driving, started my love of football (which has led me to where I am today) and even went through high school and most of college in this past decade.
So some people would ask about the 1990s being the most influential, and about the only argument that holds any weight for the 90s is my intense love affair of NASCAR began in the 1990s, but even that argument may not hold water to my learning how to live independently and as my own person.
And for most of the people who live in my generation the most defining moment of our lives occurred in this decade. Like it or not, you can’t think about life without 9-11 in 2001. That one day changed our lives so much. Flying, a once routine way of travel, became a hassle to some. Troops were sent to rid the Middle East of terrorists accused of attacking our country. And still, to this day, we have not captured the man that most feel was in charge of planning the attacks, Osama Bin Laden.
But for me I saw the early part of the decade as a time to feed my interest in football. As Elder High School became a regular Friday night hangout for myself and my friends, I learned to not only love watching football but I also learned to love Elder High School. I also became so endeared with the football program at Elder that I ended up joining the program as a stat guy/staff “go-fer” my sophomore year.
Where did that lead me? Well, two Big East Championships later I can say that those early days at Elder have definitely paid off, in more ways than one.
In 2002 Doug Ramsey and the Elder Panthers went 14-1, clinching the school’s first ever state title in football. They did it again in 2003, but that was a more special time for me. In 2003 I graduated from St. William and headed to Elder where I went to many of the Elder games in that historic year. Meeting new friends and making sure they enjoyed football as much as I did was some of the most fun that year.
And it led to a great friendship that became one of the closest I had in my four years at Elder. As you know if you’ve read along here, it was during that 2003 football season that Greg Metz and I became great friends, going so far as to share a four hour bus ride to the State Title game together, blabbing about football and so much more. We joke that if we are ever to coach football, we’ll definitely be the other’s first call for an assistant coaching position.
And if 2003 wasn’t crazy enough, the Florida Marlins captured their second World Series title. If I could go back and re-live 2003, well, I certainly wouldn’t complain.
But as awesome as watching every game from the stands in 2003 was it was even better to be a direct part of it all in 2004, and the Elder coaches know it. Which is why they love having me back to help whichever students decide they want to do our job, even though the coaches know without Greg and I the whole operation might fail.
The year 2004 also brought along one of life’s great joys: driving. Not to say it was the biggest moment of the decade, but for me, learning how to drive and finally getting a license was a huge step toward becoming a little bit more independent. It also gave my mom a chauffeur.
When I look back at my life (now and in the future) I will probably look at the 2000s as the most influential decade of my life. I began driving, started my love of football (which has led me to where I am today) and even went through high school and most of college in this past decade.
So some people would ask about the 1990s being the most influential, and about the only argument that holds any weight for the 90s is my intense love affair of NASCAR began in the 1990s, but even that argument may not hold water to my learning how to live independently and as my own person.
And for most of the people who live in my generation the most defining moment of our lives occurred in this decade. Like it or not, you can’t think about life without 9-11 in 2001. That one day changed our lives so much. Flying, a once routine way of travel, became a hassle to some. Troops were sent to rid the Middle East of terrorists accused of attacking our country. And still, to this day, we have not captured the man that most feel was in charge of planning the attacks, Osama Bin Laden.
But for me I saw the early part of the decade as a time to feed my interest in football. As Elder High School became a regular Friday night hangout for myself and my friends, I learned to not only love watching football but I also learned to love Elder High School. I also became so endeared with the football program at Elder that I ended up joining the program as a stat guy/staff “go-fer” my sophomore year.
Where did that lead me? Well, two Big East Championships later I can say that those early days at Elder have definitely paid off, in more ways than one.In 2002 Doug Ramsey and the Elder Panthers went 14-1, clinching the school’s first ever state title in football. They did it again in 2003, but that was a more special time for me. In 2003 I graduated from St. William and headed to Elder where I went to many of the Elder games in that historic year. Meeting new friends and making sure they enjoyed football as much as I did was some of the most fun that year.And it led to a great friendship that became one of the closest I had in my four years at Elder. As you know if you’ve read along here, it was during that 2003 football season that Greg Metz and I became great friends, going so far as to share a four hour bus ride to the State Title game together, blabbing about football and so much more. We joke that if we are ever to coach football, we’ll definitely be the other’s first call for an assistant coaching position.
And if 2003 wasn’t crazy enough, the Florida Marlins captured their second World Series title. If I could go back and re-live 2003, well, I certainly wouldn’t complain.But as awesome as watching every game from the stands in 2003 was it was even better to be a direct part of it all in 2004, and the Elder coaches know it. Which is why they love having me back to help whichever students decide they want to do our job, even though the coaches know without Greg and I the whole operation might fail.
The year 2004 also brought along one of life’s great joys: driving. Not to say it was the biggest moment of the decade, but for me, learning how to drive and finally getting a license was a huge step toward becoming a little bit more independent. It also gave my mom a chauffeur.
In a this blog famous picture, my car sitting inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
One of the greatest memories that I have of my time at Elder was going to Europe with the Elder Glee Club. Although I’ve never written about the trips here, I do tell many stories to friends and family about our travels to other countries. Our first trip in 2005 was to Italy.
Me, on the right, outside the Colosseum in Rome
Where do I start? We started in Milan and headed south until we ended up in Rome. I’m not sure that I could do justice to the whole two week trip here in just a short space, but I have often expressed interest in heading back when I get enough money and time to go back.
St. Peter's Basilica in Rome 
Me overlooking the beautiful city of Florence
That led into one of the more interesting years in 2006, a year that helped me realize what I could accomplish both in school and out of school. In my quick notes I made before writing this I mentioned that the year of 2006 was pretty uneventful but it did lead into my senior year at Elder. It wasn’t what dreams are made of in terms of how our football season went, but as I have stated before, you tend to learn more from not winning.
The year 2007 was a busy year to say the least. Graduating from Elder High School, traveling to New Mexico the week after and then to Europe later in the month of June was a whirlwind which could only be supplanted by college football.
My first season at the University of Cincinnati was full of change: a new head coach, new offense, new quarterback and new records. Brian Kelly took the Bearcats to a 10-3 record and a Papajohns.com bowl win.
And there was only one place to go from there. With a strong core of returning starters on defense the 2008 Bearcats won the school’s first ever Big East title and locked up a spot in the school’s first ever BCS bowl game. Life was good as the Bearcats enjoyed the South Beach scene and took on Virginia Tech in the 2009 Orange Bowl.
The 2009 Orange Bowl was a fun time, more on that to come later
For more on the Orange Bowl and more, check back later this week as I recap 2009, one of the most fun and exciting years ever. Or would it be more appropriate to call it a perfect year? Enjoy your week, I’ll be back tomorrow with a special post about Florida and UC and then later this week you’ll read more about the year that has been perfect so far.
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