Shutterspeed is for suckers.

I call this one "flight 9/23"...

(Ben's birthday... 23-Sept-06)

I do not know what 'aperture' means...

"there I go,
there I go,
there.... I goooo."

My densitometer is off a little

...but I think I might have a future in cell phone photography.

I call this one "Anna reads."

A Generation on the Brink...

I’m a Vanderbilt football fan. To folks who know me, this comes as no surprise. Check that… the folks who know me continue to be surprised that I am a Vanderbilt fan. And this fact holds especially true for my wife’s family.

They cheer for the Crimson Tide.

Despite the fact that my bride is the only one in the lot who actually graduated from THE university, the entire clan is as rabid as an elephant on steroids come game day.

And they are all making sure that my kids - the three that breathe oxygen and the fetus (who is currently the size of a gerbil and bears a striking resemblance to the pod creature from Cocoon) - are all becoming annoying Bama fans as well.

My daughter – the six-year-old – knows all the words to Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer and “sings” the damn thing eleventeen times every day. The entire family – including Mimi, Papa, Mommy, uncles, aunts and a grandmother on the father's side – join in screaming “give ‘em hell Alabama!” at the appropriate time(s) and then laughter and uproarious yips and yee-haws ensue.

My one-year old wears crimson and white-checkered sundresses with little panties that read “BAMA” in big, white, block letters across her red butt.

And my son… my boy… my father's namesake (sort of) and the reason I smile every day… has a Bama hat and a Bama ball and Bama socks and t-shirts and pajamas and posters and wrist bands and pom-poms and stickers and even a little, bitty Bama lounge chair in which he sits and drinks Bama juice out of a sweet, baby Bama sippy cup.

But I am a Vanderbilt fan. And it’s not just because my father played there. I sincerely like pulling for these guys.

The Commodores traveled to Tuscaloosa last Saturday for the first time in several years. We did the same. I, in my black golf shirt and faded “V” hat. The rest of them wore Crimson and white. We met the in-laws and their friends on “The Quad” a few hours before the game…

What a set-up! There were burgers and hot dogs, chips and dips, brownies, cookies, candy, cake, soft drinks, three different brands of spring water, and lots and lots of beer. It was unbelievable. Three canopy tents housed three different flat screen televisions (all tuned to different college football games) and a couple of stereos that blared the Mike Shula pre-game show.

The kids were in heaven. They ran and played and sang songs and tackled and skipped and laughed and laughed and yelled “Roll Tide” as they sped past the various viewing areas.

I’ve got to admit… It was pretty darned cute.

At one point in the afternoon, I pulled Ben aside and knelt down so our foreheads touched. We smiled at each other, and I told my only son that I loved him. He pulled back a little and reciprocated my affection…

I told him that I loved being there with him. He told me he loved it, too. I told him that I was proud of him and that I looked forward to maybe doing this before one of HIS football games in about 17 years. He beamed. He took a deep, proud breath and let it out with almost impossible satisfaction. This was one of those father-son moments they make movies about… It was all just too good to be true.

Ben hugged me without prompting, and I almost bawled.

As his head rested on my shoulder, I said, “Hey, Buddy?”

“Yes, sir?” He asked.

[He even said “sir.”]

“Can you say, ‘Go Vandy’?”

As he pulled away, his hand remained on my shoulder. He patted softly, and shook his tiny head side-to-side…

“Mama said ‘no,’ Daddy.”

He turned, ran, knocked over my beer, and disappeared into a sea of Crimson and White.

Vanderbilt ended up losing the game 10-13. But “my team” lost more than a game on Saturday. We may have lost an entire generation…

But, win or lose,
The Fates will choose,
And Vandy's game will be the same.
Dynamite, Dynamite,
When Vandy starts to fight!