northern football can be fun

I went to my first NIU football game tonight

    For this season, I mean.
    It was a great time...tailgating with Darci, Dave and Dawn is always a blast.  Thanks for the hospitality and the great seats.
     In my younger years I went to a lot of games.
     One year I took Jackie to homecoming.  We even went to see The Lettermen in concert at the student center.  Jackie had her hair in a bee hive and was about 7 feet tall.  I had pimples.
    That was the same year NIU beat their first MAC school, I believe it was Bowling Green.
I remember the day was rainy and cold and the girls stayed in their dorm room while the guys went to the game.
     I always liked football.
     In high school I never missed a game.
     And we always went to the city championship down at Soldiers Field.  It was the public league  against the Catholic League and the Catholic League schools always won.
     One year, maybe when I was a freshman,  we were sitting behind some obnoxious girls rooting for the Catholic league.  We were rooting for the public league and they were being creamed.  The girls kept taunting us and making fun of the public league team.  Well, one thing led to another and one of the girls fell backward and ended up in my lap.
     Her name was Camille, and it was love at first sit.
     We accompanied her and her girlfriend home.  They rode the west line, getting off at Lake Street.
It was not a good neighborhood.
     At one point a large group of guys (ok, maybe 3) were coming towards us and another group was coming from behind.  Camille said not to worry and knew the guys, so I think we were safe.  Either that, or she said cross the street and run like hell, everyone for themselves.
    I took Camille to see Taurus Bulba, the movie, at a downtown theater.  It was the only date I ever had where a parent came with.  In this case, my mother.  She sat several rows away from us as we watched the Mongol hoard gallop across Asia in Technicolor and Vistavision.
     I had three dates with her, and I never forgot her.
     A few years ago John the cop said, "Hey do you remember a girl named Camille?"
     I said I did, even her last name.
     He had run into her and in their talk, came upon our brief but intense platonic love affair.
     Funny thing, she remembered me too.
     Now John will undoubtedly correct my memory, which seems to vary in accuracy..... but in my mind, she was my girl and she was absolutely crazy about me and had never gotten over me, so she became a nun.
     That's my story, and I am sticking to it.