If you’d like to play along, visit the Friday Five site!

Q1. What are you holding your breath in anticipation of?

I’m anxious about the UMass/Mississippi State football game tomorrow. The coaches are coaching to save their jobs and it all depends on how much the team wants a win as to whether or not we can pull off the upset. I have faith in my team, I just hope they have faith in themselves.

Q2. What most recently gave you goosebumps?

Our double overtime victory over Appalachian State last week. Andrew Ford, our starting quarterback took an elbow to the head just before halftime and it took ten minutes to get him off the field on a backboard with a neck brace and to the hospital. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked, though a concussion is definitely not a good thing, but at the time nobody knew how bad it was, so we were all freaked out anyway, but the last half hour of the game nearly killed me. We ran a perfectly executed two minute drill to tie the game and recovered a fumble to win 30-27. Not only did I have goosebumps, but I was shaking and couldn’t sit still. The team rallied behind our backup quarterback and played for Andrew so the victory was amazing. Definitely the best win we’ve had since the move up to IA football.

Q3. What’s giving you that pain in the neck?

Literally, it’s the damp cold weather. I have severe neck/shoulder spasms that have misaligned my cervical vertebrae and rainy days can make it worse in the fall and winter. Figuratively it’s my job, for reasons I’m not willing to put into writing.

Q4. What’s making your heart ache?

The thought that Coach Whipple could be fired at the end of the season. He is like a father to me and his wife is my closest friend. It’s killing me to think of the possibility, especially because a lot of what’s gone wrong for us has nothing to do with his coaching abilities. I’ve gotten into so many (mostly civilized) arguments on social media in defense of him, and I’m just trying not to think about it.

Q5. What are you yawning at?

Earlier in the week I felt achy and so tired – I honestly felt like I’d run into a brick wall and it happened on the first truly cold and damp day we’ve had so far this fall, so I don’t know if the weather caused it or not, but it was brutal.  I feel better today and never had any sinus symptoms so it’s not my usual sinus infection. It kind of felt like the flu but you wouldn’t get over that in a day or two so who knows? I’m at a complete loss but sometimes cold, damp days just make my body ache. It’s so tiring when that happens but it doesn’t happen often enough for me to go to the doctor over it. When it does, I just burrow under a blanket and sleep it off.