Over the last 10 days, I’ve slept in the room usually reserved for the cats (real cats, like with teeth and claws and hair), I’ve been pissed at my best friend and, at times, the only place I’ve had to piss was a Gatorade bottle. I’ve been spooned by a big hairy man, screamed at by a woman who most certainly belongs in a mental institution and awakened by tornado sirens.

Over the last 10 days I’ve seen the newest addition to a great baseball town, sat in the oldest seats in Major League Baseball and paid more than twice face value for tickets to a stadium that will be a parking lot in two years. I’ve walked the same streets as Ty Cobb, eaten in the same restaurants as Ernie Banks and drank a beer at the “House that Ruth built.”

Over the last 10 days I’ve sat on top of the Green Monster, walked next to the Ivy at Wrigley and been overwhelmed by the most sacred place in baseball.

Over the last 10 days I’ve had the time of my life.

Conway to Violet Hill to St. Louis to Chicago to Detroit all the way to Boston to New York City to Cooperstown. Can you believe that? And we’re not done yet.

I was in the Museum of Natural History in NYC yesterday and read about the Islam religion and how each Muslim should make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Well, this is my pilgrimage to Mecca. I think Annie Savoy might have said it best in the opening narration of Bull Durham: “I believe in the Church of Baseball.”

I’m writing these words from the village of Cooperstown, New York, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. A place where legend says the game was born, where the greatest in the game had the greatest moments of their lives.

Since the last time I drove the streets of Conway, Ark., I’ve driven in St. Louis and watched the Cardinals and Albert Pujols roll over the Angels. I’ve ridden the “L train” in Chicago to Wrigleyville to see the Cubs take one from Seattle and lose another in 13 innings. I’ve walked through the circus that is Comerica Park and watched the Tigers drop a game to the Brewers while drinking a daquiri (Don’t tell anyone I did that, it’s just a Detroit thing). I’ve been lost in Boston and slept in the “cat room” on the fourth floor of the MIT Sigma Nu House before booing Barry Bonds and watching the Red Sox kick a little Giant ass. I’ve stumbled through Times Square, told a persistent scientologist “No” and hopped on the Subway to the Bronx. And just across from Yankee Stadium I paid $180 for two $40 tickets in some random bowling alley. But I watched the Yankees and Mets at Yankee Stadium. How many of you can say that? And yesterday me and my partner in crime, Shane Irgens, drove through the Catskills, through a bunch of rural New York roads to the epicenter of the game.

We came to Cooperstown.

I could write so much about this trip, and I probably will. But I’ll leave you all for the moment that sums it up for me right now.

I got chills, chills that someone should only get during a cold Cooperstown winter. I got chills when I walked by Babe Ruth’s locker fully preserved in the museum with big, famous No. 3 Yankee jersey hanging there.

And I got more than chills when I walked into the room that houses all of the Hall of Fame plaques of all the greatest figures America’s pastime has ever seen. I actually got emotional, fought back a tear or two as I saw all the faces I’ve admired and learned about since I was a small child.

Baseball is my passion. And today I went to the place where it all culminates. And I felt it. That’s the only way to describe it. I felt it.

We’ll be in Cooperstown until Thursday and then to Atlanta. We’ll be back in Conway on Saturday night. Oh, the stories I’ll have to tell. We’ll see you then.

Yes, the very state this blog originates from has developed renowned reputation for housing confederate flag-waving rednecks and cutoff short-wearing trailer trash. And growing up in a town called Violet Hill, I saw where this reputation came from on a daily basis. But living in the college town of Conway for the last two years, I’ve become accustomed to the more civilized part of the state.

That is until Howie Mandell came to town.

I felt like I was back home when I saw a 250-pound woman wearing the clothes that would fit a woman half that size eating a can of potted opossum with her hands. One of the eager future millionaires must have gotten to the Farris Center really early, because the concrete blocks his station wagon was sitting on had already been pissed on by the mule tied up in Lu Hardin’s parking spot.

I guess all the Arkansas Tech fans couldn’t handle never being able to ride their donkeys down to Conway for a football game again, so they decided to try their luck with reality TV.

In a time when the whole world is celebrating such a great game with the inaugural World Baseball Classic, Barry Bonds has turned the sweet smells of freshly cut grass, pine tar and camaraderie to that of syringes, lies and a stinking cheater.

It’s not like most people didn’t already think most of these things reported in the book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters who compiled compelling evidence against the single-season home run record holder through extensive research. But now, it seems as though there’s no hope there was some sense of purity in America’s beloved game in recent years, and there’s no way the record books can be looked with the seriousness and respect as they once were.

I shutter to think what Babe Ruth and Roger Maris would think of the news that was brought to the world yesterday. And I wonder what Frank Robinson and Harmon Killebrew have to say about Bonds, who allegedly juiced up on steroids to pass them on the all-time home run list. I wonder if Willie Mays, Bonds’ own godfather, is still firmly standing behind good ol’ Barry. Somehow I don’t see how it wouldn’t bother him that his own godson might have been juiced up on horse steroids when Bonds hit his 661st home run to pass Mays for third on the coveted list.

And now what does Bonds have to say for himself?

“I won’t even look at it,” Bonds told reporters yesterday of the book. “For what? There’s no need to.”

Mr. Bonds, it might just be me, but if a book was being published about me that would most likely place the word “cheater” next to mine in the history books, I might give it a look.

And now the debate starts. Is Barry Bonds a Hall of Famer? The most common answer I’ve heard thus far is “yes, he had the numbers to be voted into the Hall before he first reportedly starting taking performance enhancers in 1997.” Well, I ask, had Pete Rose not done accumulated enough numbers to be enshrined in the HOF before he bet on his first baseball game?

I don’t care if a player hit 1000 home runs naturally before taking steroids, if he did ingest that scum he doesn’t belong alongside the greatest players in baseball history for eternity.

It makes me sick to my stomach that the last 10 years of baseball have been completely tainted. Nothing anyone ever did in that time can be taken seriously. And now, the once sacred record books of Major League Baseball have also been spat upon.

As players from 16 different countries from around the world are representing their nations in the game they love for nothing but pride, with so many players so good we’ve never seen such talent wearing the same uniform at the same time before, all anyone can talk about and all I can write about is Barry Bonds and the injustices he has done to out beloved game.

Thanks, Mr. Bonds, thanks a lot.

But now, Conque is even farther away from being on the hotseat, getting a new contract, virtually ensuring his presence at UCA throughout the Division I-AA transitional period and for the next five years.

The difference between a three and five-year deal may not seem like a whole lot right now, but when you look at the journey the UCA football program will be going on in the next five years, the extra two years could mean a lot. Wins won’t come quite as easy as the Bears go from playing Division II opponents to I-AA and even I-A foes. And there’s no doubt some people currently on the Conque bandwagon will jump off in the coming years, but no matter what happens in the next five years, there will be stability in the program.

Along with the exceptional season Conque and his team had last season, the need for stability was the main reason the administration found the need to extend his contract.

And, in my opinion, it was done justly so.

Like the need for ultimate political power during times of war throughout history, I think the task of bringing UCA from a Division II school to a dominant Division I-AA team should be allocated to one person.

Conque’s coaching experience prior to his time at UCA was primarily with either I-AA or I-A teams. The guy knows what it takes to play at the level the Bears are moving to, and he has the ability to get those players.

He’s already proven he can recruit with Division I-A schools within the state. Matt Clinkscales, the running back from Springdale that recently committed to UCA, also had a scholarship offer from Arkansas State. Although UCA probably won’t be eligible for postseason play while he is here, and the Bears aren’t even on the same classification level as the Indians, Clinkscales chose UCA, saying the coaching staff sat down with him and showed him the offense on tape and made him feel comfortable here.

Sounds like Conque is doing something right.

I feel comfortable with him being the architect to mold the UCA program from what it is now to what it could be in five years. But I’m not the only one, I get the feeling that most UCA fans are behind Conque and support the decision made by the administration to lengthen his contract.

His popularity with UCA fans stems not only from his success, but, I think, from his “cool” and daring image. How many other coaches wear their hat backwards on the sideline? Conque’s subtle Cajun accent is enough to be somewhat intriguing but not enough to isolate him from his mostly Arkansas-born fan base. His sometimes illogical calls on 4th down seem to make the fans cheer even louder.

Conque has found his niche in Conway. Conway loves him, and apparently he loves Conway back. Why else would he turn down a Division I-A job in his hometown after going 3-8 at Division II UCA. That’s what Conque did in 2001 when he turned down the Louisiana-Lafayette job to remain as the Bears head ‘ball coach.

As any other public figure and football coach, Conque has his doubters and haters. But they will have to deal with him for the next five years, and if UCA isn’t where it should be after that time period, they will be proven right. But, until then, Conque is the right man for the job.

I didn’t wear the shirt because I am a USC fan, because I’m nothing of the sort. I didn’t wear it because I’m an Oklahoma fan, because I don’t fit under that label either. And, contrary to what all of my friends thought, I didn’t wear the shirt because I’m an Arkansas fan.

“I always pull for Arkansas as long as they’re not playing Texas,” one of my friends said, ignorant of my true feelings.

“I don’t see why you hate Texas so much,” another said. “They don’t even play Arkansas anymore.”

The main reason I bought the shirt was just to get under the skin of my house mates. Although, I did have a little underlying hate for UT from my days (although very numbered) as a Hog fan. But my hate for Texas never bloomed until I was subjected to the constant bickering of the Texas faithful.

If you’ve ever been near any hardcore Lonestar State fan, you know what I mean. I got to the point where if I ever had to hear how great anything originating in George Bush’s homeland was, I was willing to steal an idea from the Germans and begin construction on the Texarkana Wall. Or maybe instead of a wall, I could just run an electric fence along the boundary to keep all of the longhorns (and steers) out of our state. I’ve just got to remember to pee in the porta-potty instead of on the fence during construction. (I’m not really a commie, but man, those Texans are just a little too prideful.)

A couple of months ago, there was an editorial in The Echo that didn’t even mention Texas, but it did declare it fine for UCA students and Bear fans to support the Arkansas Razorbacks. At that time, I agreed with the editorial and would have even labeled myself as a casual fan of the piggies. And although you won’t find me rooting against the Hogs on a typical day, my views of which collegiate sports teams UCA students should support have changed, and my personal allegiances have been better defined.

Unlike UA, UCA doesn’t get many students who choose to attend the university due to the fact the prospective students are big fans of the school’s athletic teams. Most little kids around the state don’t grow up exclaiming “Do it like a big bear, grrrr!” But UCA has become the second-largest institution of higher education in the state, right behind that school in Fayetteville, and Bear athletics are on the rise.

Next year, there will be a new kid on the block around these parts. Central Arkansas will be the state’s newest participant in Division I athletics, making the transition to D I-AA. UCA will gain more coverage in the media than any of the Gulf South Conference schools in the state which the UCA was previously an equal of. And along with becoming a regular on ESPN’s bottom line, UCA sports will pretty much become a lot bigger deal to anyone who might care.

As UCA sports might not be near as big of a deal to the state in general as the latest venereal disease picked up by a star Razorback player, UCA has reached the point where athletics have become a big enough deal for the student body to faithfully follow ‘dem Bears. And I think the city of Conway should do the same.

In my senior year of high school, I made a decision. I made a decision to attend the University of Central Arkansas, and I haven’t regretted that choice. And I think, as students, we need to realize what UCA has done for us and where our allegiances should lie. Do you want to support the guy that sat by you in history class, or a guy you’ve never met before and probably never will? Do you want to support the person who lives down the hall, or the man who thought he was too good to even consider living in the same dorm?

What I’m trying to say is these people — the starting quarterback of the football team to a freshman on the women’s tennis team — they are among us and they represent us in everything they do. We should take pride in their accomplishments and get even more excited about their feats than what happens in the northwest corner of the state.

It might take every UCA student getting out and not just watching one game, but actually following the school’s teams. Getting to know who is playing for the Bears and becoming knowledgable about the players, coaches and team in general might be what it takes to become a true fan of the school's teams. Hopefully, the number of students and others who put UCA at No. 1 in their hearts will be on the increase in the near future.

UCA has already done a couple of great things to spark the interest of the student body in UCA football. Alcohol was allowed for the first time at the tailgates on the practice field, and the pre-game parties drew many students who attended the games after a bit of grilling and drinking. And UCA’s football team, in their last season in Division II, made a run in the national playoffs and was a serious national championship contender. The university and football team did a pretty good job at raising awareness before the move is made to Division I.

A couple weeks ago, I saw a good sign of UCA becoming a noticeable figure in the state of Arkansas’ eyes. I went to a piano bar in Little Rock, and during the night, the performers broke out the fight song competition to earn a little extra cash. The piano player started out playing and singing “Rocky Top,” the University of Tennessee’s fight song, but then let the crowd know he’d play whichever fight song had the most monetary support.

To my delight, the Texas fight song didn’t net a dollar, but the UCA fight song fared much better. Going into what the piano player labeled the “fourth quarter,” The U of A was leading UCA by a count of $18 to $16. My table, which wholly consisted of UCA students, had already given up all the loose dollar bills we could find to demolish the Razorback faithful. It looked like they were about to win. But thankfully, one of my fraternity brothers placed a $20 bill on the piano followed by another $10 passed to the front by a random UCA supporter. The Bears had gained an insurmountable lead and we all stood up, held our drinks high in the air and, with much pride, helped the piano player sing our fight song.

The Bears might not be No. 1 on "Drive Time Sports," but to myself and hopefully the majority of our student population, we take pride in cheering the purple and gray team.

I woke up this morning, flipped the TV on and at 10 a.m. I watched the kickoff of the Outback Bowl which faced Florida against Iowa. It seemed like a good matchup on paper, but didn’t end up being a very competitive game. But who cares? Show me two top 25 college football teams at 10 in the morning any day of the week and I will watch it. In fact, show me a Pop Warner football game at 10 in the morning and I will watch it before I flip on 20-year-old reruns of Little House on the Prairie.

But the great thing today about waking up and watching that game was I didn’t even have to watch the Outback Bowl, there was another choice just a few clicks away. I just switched on over to FOX and guess what, another two top 25 teams facing off in the Cotton Bowl. And this game was no blowout. Texas Tech’s explosive offense ran into a brick wall when they went up against Alabama today. The Red Raiders’ average offensive output for this season was more than 40 points before today. And how many points did they score? 10. But that wasn’t the most amazing thing about the Cotton Bowl. The ending was what made skipping breakfast worthwhile. The ugliest field goal I have ever seen (With the exception of the field goal the Texans kicker seemed to intentionally blow a few weeks ago. Congratulations Houston, you now have the rights to Reggie Bush promising one of the best players ever to come out of college will spend his days on an awful team in relative obscurity.) won the game for the Crimson Tide. It didn’t look like it would fly more than 10 yards, but somehow, someway the 45 yard kick barely slipped between the uprights to lift ‘Bama to victory. It looked like me trying to hit a 2-iron, and trust me, that isn't a pretty sight.

Yes, it is the most wonderful time of the year. The time of year when a college student has no worries at all, a sports fan has a smorgasbord of selection on the tube and a fat guy has an unlimited supply to leftovers. Sounds like a pretty good month to me.

But, just when I thought I was in for a whole day of bowl action, I realize the two BCS games on tonight are on ABC. Why’s that a problem? Because it’s the only channel my parents don’t get. In Violet Hill, antenna reception is almost impossible – this situation forced my parents into getting DirecTV years ago. For all of the big 5 networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and yes, PBS) we receive the New York and Los Angeles stations except for ABC. Apparently KAIT, the ABC affiliate out of Jonesboro, has the right to provide us with their quality programming. But DirecTV doesn’t offer it on the dish, so we have been left to naught. My parents even wrote to KAIT asking for permission to receive ABC from an alternate market, and they denied. Needless to say, I’m not their biggest fan. From what I have seen of the station, their news anchors talk like they eat raccoon, armadillo and opossum for their daily three meals, and their reporters are as good-looking as roadkill they might eat.

So as I write this column, two college football heavyweights are dueling on primetime TV and I’m watching the nightly news. Good thing I got my football fix this morning, or I might have hitch-hiked back to Conway to catch the games because my car isn’t scheduled to be fixed until sometime tomorrow. And that might not have turned out alright. I’ve never hitch-hiked before, but I’m pretty sure I would have either gotten abducted by Martians, hit by a car or winked at by some KAIT news anchor before I made it down to Conway.

But hopefully I will be back into civilization by tomorrow night’s bowl game. Penn State against Florida State should be well worth watching. But, like I said, Arkansas State and Southern Miss doesn’t bother me either – you never know when you’ll have a finish like the Nebraska–Michigan game or get to see a streaker before the cameras turn away. I bet you've never seen that in an episode of Little House on the Prairie.

For almost the past week I have not been able to catch a full Sportscenter, watch a meaningless bowl game or even glance across the sports section of a newspaper. I have no idea what is going on in the world right now and it is really starting to irritate me. As an American, I have a need for instant gratification and the recent lack of entertainment is more annoying than staring at Stuart Scott’s eye for two hours. Now, if I could shove a few needles in that thing; that would be entertainment. There’s no telling what would squirt out of it.

I’ve been spending time with the family in south Louisiana for the past few days. And when you find yourself wrestling for the remote with a three-year-old girl and a host of eight-and-under boys, you’re not likely to win. But the children weren’t biggest obstacle I faced for a few moments of ESPN; no, the most daunting opponent I’ve faced since gracing Acadiana with my presence is none other than my older sister, Kristi. She has always seemed to dominate our family’s decision making; everyone knows not to question her, because if you do, there will be hell to pay(even though she’s not always right, like she might believe). Needless to say, this meant quite a few heated arguments and scraps throughout my childhood. I’m a bit stronger than her now and I outweigh her a ton, but she still scares the hell out of me.

I hope to wrestle the remote away from her sometime before I head back to Arkansas in a few days, but I doubt I’ll come out on top. Yelling “Mom, Kristi won’t let me have a turn watching the TV” doesn’t seem to work anymore now that she and I are 26 and 20, respectively. But she still taunts me the same way she did 15 years ago. She just sticks her tongue out and grins evilly.

I did watch a couple minutes of the Patriots and Seahawks on Saturday while everyone was getting ready to go to my aunt’s for the big Christmas Eve shindig. The Colts backup quarterback was in the game and the horseshoe helmets were down 14-3 when I had to leave. That’s probably a smart move considering the game is now meaningless and Peyton Manning is sharp enough to sit for 20 weeks and then throw for 400 yards. It’s the next day and I still don’t know how the game turned out.

It was really a glorious day I must have missed. There were almost as many NFL games played on Saturday as on a normal Sunday. The playoff picture probably shaped up a lot more than before the games, or maybe even hell took hold and the scenarios are now crazier than Courtney Love … when she’s not on drugs.

But I guess I won’t know for a few more days when make it back to my room. I’ll pick up all of the unread newspapers off of my front porch and read the headlines to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. Then I’ll lie on my bed, watching ESPN, no matter what is on. Bowling would be a treat right now.

They always say you don’t know what you have unless someone takes it away, and that’s what I’ve realized now. But for a few more days, I’ll be able to indulge my entertainment needs with “Sesame Street,” “Trading Spaces,” and of course “Dora the Explorer.”

With ASU actually getting significant press in the statewide media, and the buzz of Central Arkansas moving to Division I-AA, it has sparked thoughts of a new in-state rivalry we could have brewing. I don’t know how open ASU athletic director Dean Lee would be to beginning a football series with the Bears, but I do know it would help Arkansas’ other schools get on the map. I also know Lee loves Adidas more than a fat kid loves cake, but that’s another story. I’m guessing UCA’s AD Vance Strange and coach Clint Conque would be more than happy to play ASU every year. It would give UCA’s already progressing program a bigger slap to the rear end than my high school principal’s paddle routinely gave me in my mischievous pre-college days.

I can see it now; UCA facing not Eastern New Mexico, not the Inuit College of Northern Alaska, but their fellow Division I neighbors to the northeast in the first game of the season at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. I can’t think of a better way to start the football season every year (although UCA would be at a decided disadvantage as a I-AA team).

Really, does either school have a legitimate reason not to play each other?

The University of Arkansas’ reasoning behind not playing ASU in any sport has always been the piggies would have nothing to gain. If they win, they were supposed to; and if they don’t, it would be a catastrophe. ASU could use this argument to decline playing UCA if they wanted to, but that would seem to be a bit hypocritical. The newly-crowned Sun Belt champions, with their program now on the rise, could gain much from playing UCA.

Last I heard, ASU, like many other small Division I-A football programs, was having trouble reaching attendance minimums set by the NCAA. A game at War Memorial Stadium against another state school would surely be one of the biggest crowds either team would play in front of all season. And UCA, as a I-AA team with no mandatory attendance minimums, would likely grant the Indians the right to claim the attendance at the neutral site as a home game.

For one day, UCA and ASU could grasp the majority of the sports section in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The content might not concentrate so much on Houston Nutt’s brilliant IQ and breaking news that Mitch Mustain just changed his underwear. This season, UCA and ASU have both put their names into the public domain with good seasons, but if this rivalry would form, there would be a lot more people talking about the Bears and Indians.

The state’s longest-running rivalry came to an end this year when UCA defeated Arkansas Tech for likely the last time. The sun has set on that rivalry, and now it needs to rise on another. The state needs an exciting rivalry within our political boundaries. Although most Arkansas sports fans will continue to hate the Longhorns forever, the Hogs no longer play the Texans anymore and the state could use something else to get excited about.

I’ll say it right now; I think we’ll see the series between the two schools come about by 2010. Get your tickets now, because this will be a big deal.