[OverAndBack]

At 6:44pm CT tonight, I realized something:

This is fun!

Of course, it was only a scrimmage and only one team in a controlled environment and nobody booing, but it was fun.

Outside of my schedule saying scrimmages at 6pm and 7pm, and showing up at 4:45 and finding six other guys already in stripes on the field ready for a 5pm scrimmage, it went off well.

I worked as line judge for the freshman and the sophomore scrimmage. Every play it seemed like there was one more layer to add on to as far as stuff to pay attention to ("You mean I have to pay attention to that, too?") but it was a great learning experience.

At one point we had ten guys in stripes out there - veteran guys helping us out and the experienced crew did the varsity game while we watched.

One of our instructors from the class I'm taking (a college umpire) was there and was extremely helpful.

Good stuff. I'm hooked.

Of course, it hasn't rained yet, and coaches haven't gotten in my ear yet, and I haven't blown a big call yet. But as first nights go, this one was pretty darn good.