Today is Yom Kippur.  The jewish day of repentance.  One asks for forgiveness for those they have offended throughout the past year.  But this is not a post about Yom Kippur.  Yom Kippur is the backdrop to this story.  It's important because on Yom Kippur, one way one shows their repentance is by fasting.  No food.  No drink.  Sundown to Sundown.  I have been observing this ritual.  You also around supposed to use electricity.  I am not observing that ritual.  So again, the important detail here is the active fasting.

This story is about a football game.  A unique one.  Today was UMass vs Michigan.  UMass is the school i have spent the past 4 years of life, and i realized today that i have exactly zero UMass articles of clothing.  Michigan is the school my parents and cousin went/goes to, and i have been weened, from birth, to love them.  I have countless Michigan articles of clothing including jersey, hat, and t-shirts. 

One would think, considering that i live in Amherst (home of UMass), that i would be abale to watch said game on television.  But NOOOOO.  You have to buy the Big Ten channel to watch the game.  This was disappointing.  Now, to give you an idea of my Michigan fan-dom, were they playing a different I-AA school, i would have just tracked the game on my computer.  Had it been a Big Ten rival, i would have gone to a bar.  My home university deserved the effort.

So that is how i found myself at Arizona Pizza Kitchen, post back surgery, standing alone, amongst a sea of packed in tables and booths, watching the game with a crowd-full of UMass faculty, staff, and students.  And while they are chugging beers and pounding wings -- i am fasting.  This is miserable.  For the record, I cheered openly for UMass (who put out a great effort).  I was not going to be the guy that goes to the UMass function to cheer for their opponent.  Especially while fasting.  

I left at halftime.  Mostly because I wasn't sure my back could handle standing another half, and also because i was having flashes of pouncing atop one of the booths and feeding on the students' pan pizzas like a lion thru a gazelle.  Tomato sauce running down my face like the bloody insides of that hoppy little goat . . . i think i made the right decision.

So now the countdown begins.  Hunger versus sundown.  Oh look, there's a rabbit in our backyard . . .

gotta run.