{"id":11324,"date":"2019-12-10T22:29:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T03:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11324"},"modified":"2019-12-10T22:29:46","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T03:29:46","slug":"guest-post-the-prodigal-son-returns-to-the-fold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11324","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: The Prodigal Son Returns to the Fold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Matt Uliana<\/em> won the prediction for the regular season finale. Here’s his fantastic guest post about his JMU fandom returning long after he played his last game for the Dukes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author taking down Georgia Southern QB Raymond Gross in pre-Bridgeforth JMU Stadium (1989)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll start off my guest post by thanking Rob and Todd for giving me the opportunity to make this paltry contribution to their excellent blog. I was told that I could write about whatever I wanted (provided I play nice and don\u2019t slag any players or coaches too bad), so I figured I\u2019d write about the thing I like the most and know the most about\u2026. me. Be advised \u2013 this post is long and completely self-indulgent, though I did my best to keep it relevant to the spirit of the blog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many of you reading this, I am not only a JMU sports fan, but also an alumnus. But unlike most of you, I\u2019m also a former JMU football player \u2013 I was a member of Coach Joe Purzycki\u2019s inaugural recruiting class, I played from 1985 through 1989 as a defensive lineman, and I started every game of the 1989 season at D-tackle. Oh, and I lead the team in quarterback sacks my final year (and if you don\u2019t believe me, check out page 172 in the 2014 JMU Football Media Guide<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most college graduates I know look back fondly on their school years \u2013 it\u2019s always about how it was the best time of their lives, how much fun everyone had, how they wish they could go back, etc. I have never once regretted my decision to go to JMU, but I don\u2019t mind saying here that my undergraduate experience was, quite frankly, not all that great. Sure, I had lots of friends, there was quite a bit of alcohol and random debauchery, and I graduated with a good, marketable B.S. degree, but overall it really wasn\u2019t fun. The main reason for that? Football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People occasionally ask about my playing experience, and they generally seem surprised when all I can say is that, in the end, I got more out of football than football got out of me. On the plus side? First of all, it paid for college \u2013 I graduated with a solid degree from a damn good school with zero debt. Second, it played a big role in my formative years and the experience made me a much stronger person in all aspects of my life. Finally, I had some truly memorable moments on the field my senior year, I ended my career knowing that I earned the respect of at least some of my opponents, and I was able to walk away from the game with a clear sense of closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what was the downside? First of all, people don\u2019t realize how much playing football at that level monopolizes your life. I won\u2019t bore you with the details but trust me \u2013 playing college football takes a lot out of you and significantly limits your available time for scheduling classes, studying, and doing important things like beer slides with your friends in Shorts Hall or road-tripping to UVA on a Saturday to see H\u00fcsker D\u00fc\u2019s final tour. That was all compounded for me by an injury in my freshman year that was initially mis-diagnosed, resulting in a string of setbacks that kept me on the sidelines for my first four seasons. On top of that, we were a perennially .500 team that was not terribly appreciated by the students \u2013 sure, people showed up for games, and they seemed to like it when we won, but nothing like the way it is today. The typical attitude other students had towards the football team in those days was generally somewhere between indifference and outright resentment because they thought we had it easy and got all sorts of free money and concessions just for playing a sport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please don\u2019t get me wrong and think that I\u2019m whining or looking for sympathy here \u2013 as I said, I got more out of it than it got out of me and I don\u2019t regret sticking with it to the end. But I didn\u2019t have those feelings of gratitude at the end of my career, and when I was done at JMU I blew out of town as fast as I could and never looked back. I didn\u2019t keep in contact with any of my teammates, coaches, friends, professors, anyone. Not only did I not follow JMU football, but I didn\u2019t watch another football game on TV for well over a decade. To me, football and college were just a chapter in my life that no longer mattered, and I was onto bigger and better things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ended up in Austin, got a couple of graduate degrees, met and married the love of my life, and started a career. I hardly thought about JMU at all in those years; in fact, I only found out about the 2004 national championship when I noticed JMU on ESPN playing Bill & Mary in the middle of December. Even after they won that first national championship, I still didn\u2019t care enough to follow the team or even reach out to anyone from those days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then around 2013 I heard that my nephew Andrew, at the time a senior in high school, was dead-set on going to JMU for college. Suddenly I had a direct connection back to the \u2018Burg, and I started looking into the current state of my alma mater. What a surprise it was to find that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. JMU is a helluva lot bigger! More than twice as many students and extensive development on the other side of IH-81<\/li>
  2. It\u2019s still one of the best public universities in the state, if not in the country<\/li>
  3. The football team knows how to win, has made regular playoff appearances since 2004, and \u2013 most surprising to me \u2013 has a rabid fan base that creates a hostile environment for visiting teams. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Andrew introduced me to this blog and to jmusports.com, and he let me know about the first ESPN Gameday. Then he got a job with the team and spent his junior and senior years working as the videographer. Suddenly I was not only connected to, but legitimately interested in my old team. I started following the games, streaming video when available and, if not, following the ESPN gamecasts on my phone. I went on-line and bought official JMU Football t-shirts and wore them proudly. I followed the 2016 season religiously and told all my friends and coworkers about how JMU is now the Alabama of FCS. I watched the semifinals at the bar in my friend\u2019s basement, shouting with delight as the mighty Bisons got taken down and as everyone else in the room tried their best to ignore me. Then, after the first of the year, I headed up IH-35 to Frisco, met up with some old friends, reveled in the drunken ocean of purple in the parking lot, and watched the Dukes do something that I once dreamed of doing, back when I was young and still loved the sport. And when it was over, I rushed the field along with everyone else, found my nephew, and managed to get the perfect shot:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Then as I stood on the field, watching those kids celebrate what may be the greatest moment in their lives, I had something of an epiphany. I realized that I am a part of the history of this team. Those years I spent on campus giving up a big part of my life (and my right knee) for this team has, in some small way, helped to lay the foundation for what has become a legendary sports program that is helping to create life-changing experiences for young men, guys that are not too different from the man I was 30 years ago. I\u2019m really proud of that now, and I\u2019ve come to realize that those days I spent on the Quad and on the field actually were some of the best of my life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So I\u2019ll end this now by saying thank you to Andrew Uliana for reconnecting me to an important part of my past, to Rob & Todd for keeping me informed and entertained, to Joe Purzycki and all the my former teammates and coaches for playing such an important part in my formative years, and to all of you in the Duke Nation for building the best fan base any school could hope to have. I will see you all on the field in Frisco this January, either in person or in spirit, and I will keep rootin\u2019 till the end!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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