On Monday, we urged parents visiting USC on Parents Weekend to give their kids some leeway when College GameDay comes to town.
This traveling football extravaganza, which is famous for drawing large, ground-shaking crowds wherever it goes, only comes to campus once every few years.
(By the way, GameDay is by no means guaranteed to come again should Gamecock Football, heaven forbid, take a sudden turn for the mediocre. Knock on wood.)
That being said, this weekend ’ s festivities are opportunities that deserve to be relished and experienced to their fullest extent.
But with parents around, our large population of student football-fanatics will have to make a choice.
The first option: Keep the instinct to get all messed up on football down to a minimum and enjoy spending time with the folks. Enjoy watching the game together in the comfort of your dorm room — actually, their hotel room's bed are probably comfier — giving you plenty of time to catch up during the commercials.
The second option: Meet them early in the day, give each a prompt hug, jump into a passing pick-up truck on the way to the stadium and go football until you can ’ t football any more.
(Remembering, of course, to send them a complementary “ good-to-see-you-again ” text after you regain some semblance of self-awareness on Monday morning.)
Yes, this is an exaggeration but not by much. There ’ s a choice here. The student football fan is stretched between spending time with the family or spending time with the GameDay analysts.
While we ’ re hesitant to give advice to people about how they should spend their time, the fact is this coming weekend was originally a weekend devoted to parents.
It ’ s been just long enough for the student body to get used to the general swing of the semester. The jarring part of moving into a dorm is over. The early practice of setting down mental roots is over.
For many parents, this will be the first time they ’ ve seen their kids in a long while. For them, not being able to hug their kid, to spend time with them, to see how they're doing — those are the most painful things in the world.
GameDay or not, we owe them that much.