Big weekend coming up for high school football fans as it is the state championships on Saturday (of course tune into NBC 30 for all the highlights, reaction, and scores with Mike Ratté at 6:00 and 11:00). It is a time for all these hard-working high school players to possibly experience "the greatest moment" of their life or "the most heart-breaking moment" of their life. Of course these games aren't life or death (though they could be a great stepping-stone to a collegiate career) but they are a life experience. And, of all the players and coaches in action on Saturday, who has had more "life experiences" on the high school gridiron than legendary Ledyard coach Bill Mignault.

Mignualt's Ledyard Colonels will be playing the Berlin Red Coats for the Class M Championship. No one has more wins in Connecticut high school football history than Mignault, so he has seen it all. However this Saturday, he will be coaching for another state title with his grandson Marc as the quarterback. Now this isn't the first grandson he has coached, but what a thrill this must be for both the grandfather and grandson.

Today on NBC 30 we did this story. Kevin talked to both Bill and Marc Mignault. While going through the tape I noticed how genuine they were in their appreciation of each other, that is when I started to feel jealous. Both of my grandfathers died before I reached high school.

I have always been close to all of my grandparents. I feel there is something really special about the bond between a grandchild and a grandparent. When my grandfather died while I was in the 7th grade, I was absolutely crushed. To this day, my grandmother can still make me cry because at my 8th grade graduation, high school graduation, college graduation, wedding, and the birth of my daughter, she has always said to me, "I wish your grandfather could have seen this". I do too. Twenty years later, I still miss him.

So, good luck to the Mignault's and all the other players and coaches this weekend at the state finals, but more importantly, if you can, give your grandparent a hug or just say thanks. They are some of the most special people in all our lives.

I am so glad the Huskies are playing in the Meineke Car Care Charlotte. I know, a BCS bid is what UConn fans really wanted. But one step at a time. West Virginia may win the National Championship this year and proved in the second half Saturday that the Huskies are still at least a year away from winning the Big East.



But for me the Meineke Car Care Bowl could not have worked out any better. My sister and her family as well as my dad all now live in the Charlotte area. So my wife and I decided today to pack up the mini van after Christmas and drive to Charlotte to see my family and the Huskies. Here is to hoping I don't need a new Meineke muffler on the way down or back.

You will always remember your last game. I
remember my college coach telling us that in 1989 and not really believing him.
I do now.

No, that isn't me on the right. That is a real football player: Former USC great Reggie Bush.
His last game was a loss in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship to Texas. He will remember that game because it defined the Trojans season. It cost USC the National Title and anointed Texas QB Vince Young as one of the great college football players of all time.

My last game was slightly less celebrated. It was watched by however many people saw USC/Texas minus that number plus 3,000. In other words, about 3,000 people saw it. Only the players remember it.

It was 1989. Dickinson, my school, (my latest shameless plug), hosted Lycoming in the D-3 playoffs. Some of my teammates still think we could have won. I am not one of them. I can live with a 21-0 loss. We were 9-0-1 in the regular season.

But there is no question that the last one sticks out. It is the last game I ever played. No, the NFL didn't call upon this 5'8" 165 lb soft hitting safety. So taking off those pads for the final time after playing football from the age of 8 on was sad. I cried for at least 15 minutes.

That leads to Thanksgiving day football. So many high school seniors around the Nutmeg state will play their final games tomorrow. My advice is simple. And it is taken directly from the words spoken by my coach Ed Sweeney: Leave it all on the field. For most of you, this will be the last game you will ever play. Give every ounce of energy you have. Because you will remember it the rest of your life.

Enjoy your last game, guys. Win or lose. When you are an old has been (or never was) like me it's the friendships and memories that you will remember more than anything else, with the thoughts of that last one mixed in.

Happy Thanksgiving.

"The" Game will last 60 minutes. The memories will last a lifetime. Bragging rights and so much more are stake for these future leaders of America.

Never has that been more true than this Saturday when the Ivy League title is decided in "The" Game at Yale Bowl between Harvard and Yale. For only the fourth time in league history, two league unbeatens meet in the final week to decide the championship. Yale is 9-0 overall, 6-0 in the Ivy, Harvard is 7-2, 6-0 in the Ivy. And were it not for two fluke plays against Holy Cross and Lehigh, the Crimson would be undefeated too.

Yale is looking for their first perfect season since 1960. As you may know, they were unbeaten in 1968, but had the one tie against Harvard when they blew a two touchdown lead in the final two minutes. It was such a miraculous comeback that the Harvard paper's headline read "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.

No ties this time, not with overtime now a part of college football. Two years ago, the Crimson came from behind to beat the Eli's in double overtime. Last season Yale won "The" Game ending Harvard's five year winning streak.

If you have never been to the Bowl for one of these, it is really a treat. I was there in 1999, when future NFL'er Eric Johnson snared his 21st catch of the game off a tipped pass with less than a minute to go. It gave the Eli's the win and a share of the Ivy League title. For me, it's a top 10 moment in my almost 20 years of covering sports.

There will be no sharing Saturday. This is for the outright championship--something Yale has not won since 1981. I have a feeling Yale will get it done. Junior running back Mike Mcleod is ripping apart the Yale record book. Despite a broken toe, he will figure out a way to run through the Harvard defense---one of the nation's best.

Final score: Yale wins 20-13 in a game that will be talked about for years.

I only wish I could be two places at once. I'll be covering UConn/Syracuse, which if the Huskies win, will have Big East title implications the following week. But in college football there is only one rivalry so old, so storied and so important it's simply as "The" Game. Enjoy.

I'm not a big New Year's guy. After Christmas and the Holiday's I like to shut it down and actually often volunteer to work on New Year's eve. This year I may have no choice. If the UConn Football team keeps winning they may be playing in a major bowl game on New Year's eve, day, or soon thereafter.

I knew that this day would eventually come. A day when UConn was in the mix for a major bowl game. I just figured my three year old daughter would be heading into the 8th or 9th grade when it happened. I really thought this type of big time success was years away. After all, the Huskies lost to teams from the old Yankee Conference as recently as 2001. At best, I thought this young team was a year away from a winning season.

But here they are at 8-1, (4-0 in the Big East) and in control of their own destiny. A win at Cincinnati Saturday and a win in the their final home game with Syracuse coupled with a West Virginia loss and the Huskies WIN, YES WIN, THE BIG EAST! That is still a lot of ifs, but the fact that it is even a conversation is incredible.

Nearly every player on this team was recruited to UConn before the new on campus 50 million dollar football facility was complete. Imagine the type of rectuits Randy Edsall can land now. But that's where I stop myself. UConn may eventually attract more talented players. But it's hard to imagine a group of kids with more character who buy into the "team first" philosophy that has overtaken the '07 Huskies.

There is truly something magical about this group of players. On paper, I am not sure they should be the 16th ranked team in the country. But through discipline, hard work and yes, some talent, the Huskies are on the verge of becoming THE Cinderella story of the college football season.

Undefeated Kansas certainly belongs in the upstart category as well. But let us not forget that a program like Kansas has been at the D-1 football game for decades. UConn just got into big time football in the last 6 years. And they only joined the Big East in 2004. On top of that, UConn was picked 6th in the Big East this fall. Yet with one break in their only loss at Virginia, they could be 6th in the country right now.

At that leads me back to New Year's. If the Huskies finish second in the Big East, which a win at Cincinnati almost assures, they will probably head to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas where they could face USC on December 31st! I can't make this stuff up. And if somehow the Huskies win the league, then they are BCS bound and could play, for example, Boston College in the Orange Bowl.

Now is the time to speculate. Now is the time to enjoy the ride. I do not where the Huskies journey will end or when. But the '07 Huskies could make an impact on your New Year's plans.