"We are with you all the way"

Super Bowl 46 does not have my favorite teams in the big game, or favorite player, but there is no question who I will be pulling for. I'll be rooting on the New York Giants thanks to three players: Lawrence Tynes, Osi Umenyiora, and Jerrel Jernigan. All three played at Troy, and are therefore Trojans for life.

As the Troy fight song says, "We are with you all the way...," so I will be pulling for these guys throughout their careers.

And not just these three.

I keep up with every former Trojan who plays in the NFL. I make it a weekly routine to bring up the box scores from the weekend's games to see how the Troy guys did. Not every former player has had the instant impact of guys like Umenyiora or Demarcus Ware, but you will find Troy players scattered throughout the league making a play on Sundays. Elbert Mack of Tampa Bay is a top backup for the Bucs secondary, Leodis McKelvin had some big returns late in the season for Buffalo, DuJuan Harris became the backup to the league's top rusher in Maurice Jones-Drew (Jags OC Dirk Koetter said late in the season that Harris "might be the most improved player we have on offense"), Mario Addison went from undrafted to the Bears squad to making an impact on the Colts defense late in the year. Sherrod Martin, Steve McLendon, Cameron Sheffield are just some of the others who I will continue to watch over the next several years.

So come Super Bowl Sunday, I won't be pulling for just the Giants, but for the Trojans as well.

Most wonderful time of the year!

Let the bowling begin.

The college football bowls begin today with three games to start the schedule.

But for me, the one worth watching the most today is the New Orleans Bowl as San Diego State takes on Louisiana-Lafayette. As a Troy Trojan, the New Orleans Bowl is a place I'm familiar with. I've been to all three of the Trojans trips to the Big Easy. I witnessed two from the sidelines and one from the stands. While it will be tough watching the game this year, I hope the Ragin' Cajuns pull out the W for the Sun Belt. I'm not necessarily one who roots for the Sun Belt teams throughout the year, but during bowl season I make an exception.

I will check in throughout the bowl season with predictions and thoughts on games, but I will be looking forward to next years bowl games already because I know that Troy will be back and make another statement in the bowls.

Photog...Is that a word?

Thanks to a generous donation to the Jonathan Sellers Photography Foundation, I am now a photographer(well at least a beginner). I am now shooting with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi that came equipped with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-22 zoom lens. I am still learning about my camera and what it means to be a photographer. Heck, I got the thing on Saturday! But I plan to update this blog with what I'm learning as well as pictures I have taken.

My goal is to be a sports photog. My passion is sports and I believe I can show that through photography. My first shots with the new camera were at Troy University's (my alma mater) final football game against FAU(more on that to come). I got shots pre-game of the players getting ready for the Senior appreciation as well as their entrance to the field.

After the game, my dad, sister and I(all trying to become photogs) ventured back to the car taking shots along the way. I took a few on the school's quad that I thought turned out okay.

Now about the game...WHAT HAPPENED? The Troy Trojans football team had been stellar at home all year. Troy was 4-0 at home at Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium with the average score being 39-11. Yes, we were dominant at home. The team was 8-3 going into the final game against FAU which would lock up a conference championship and a spot in the New Orleans Bowl. Also of note...Troy was 4-0 all-time against FAU, so this was an easy win, right??

Wrong!

I wish I knew what happened, really I do. It seemed we weren't ready at the beginning. Our defense did not play like they had for the past 10 games. It seemed everyone was waiting for the offense to score all the points like it had all year. And while they did get 32, 20 of those came in the fourth quarter as the team made what seemed like an improbable comeback only to come up short with an incomplete pass on fourth down with :28 seconds left. As the ball fell to the grond, so did my heart sink in my chest. That loss hurt...to have such a great year come up short in the end is not a good feeling. So no outright championship...no New Orleans Bowl...no nothing.

There's always next year.

Signing off, Jono