The air was electric.

It was full of energy, nothing like I had ever experienced before.  It was full of noise, smells, pageantry, and crisp, autumn chill.  My dream of going to a professional football game had finally come true , and I was loving every minute of it.

For most of my life, as long as I can recall, I can remember begging my dad to take me to a game.  Daddy loved the Chicago Bears; he turned me into a lifelong fan too.  He had been to several football games in his youth; he would tell me wonderful stories of his experiences, and I wanted to see all that for myself.  Yet whenever I asked Daddy if we could go to a game, he would always say we never had enough money.  It drove me nuts.

Then, last year, I turned thirteen.  I was a teenager.  I guess as a way of "coming to age", Daddy decided to take me to a game.  It was the Chicago Bears against the hated Pittsburgh Steelers.  The day he showed me the tickets was a day I will never forget: it was like Christmas, my birthday, Halloween, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one.

I was on Cloud Nine.

I started counting the days to the Big Game.  I couldn't wait!!

Then The Big Day came.  We got up super early; we left the house before sunup.  We knew there was gonna be a ton of people there, so we wanted to get to the stadium as early as possible, so we could find a good parking spot and hopefully some good seats on the fifty-yard line.  We lucked out on both accounts, but before the game, Daddy ran into some pals from his work, and they had a tailgate party.  It was a lot of fun, but the real fun would come later, during the game.

It was everything I could have imagined and so much more.  When those Bears came charging onto the field and I heard the fans cheering wildly, I was in my element.  I felt as if I had just died and gone to Heaven: this was a boy's perfect dream come true !

It ended up that the Bears beat the Steelers, 20-6.  The entire stadium of well over 50,000 people went nuts!!  The roar was incredible, not to mention, deafening.  By the end of the game, I had no voice left, and I couldn't hear a thing.  But I was loving every moment!

I would never forget that day as long as I shall live.  

Now I'm already counting down to the next time we can go to a game; I know I will be more than ready because I now know what to expect, and hopefully, the Bears will come up again on the winning side!!