I have nothing but good news to report, after spending some time with Carlton this weekend. When I first saw him, he tried to pull his usual "I see Daddy, but I don't really see him" routine, and then he walked up to me and hugged me. When he was younger, he would run up to me, but he's developed some of that reserved behavior that his father has. So now he just strolled up to me, but he still hugged me tight. I met the family that he is currently staying with, and that seem like nice people..too bad I'm taking Carlton away from them shortly..Anyway, we left from there and went to the Hampton/Norfolk State game. Carlton and I were stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes, which allowed us to have a very interesting conversation. He grilled me about living in DC, my job, my family, and I returned the favor by asking him about Arizona, his current situation, school, etc. And then he shocked me with his knowledge of college football. He was talking to me about #1 ranked Ohio State, who should be ranked #2, his favorite players and everything. I don't know why I"m shocked that a son of mine would talk sports, but it was the depth of his knowledge that shocked me. It was like talking to a child prodigy. I can't explain how nice it is to have an actual conversation with my son now that he's 9. I had to endure those frustrating years, when he wasn't quite old enough to sustain a conversation, and I had to try to figure out what he was thinking, like he was Lassie or something. Those days are gone.

Once we arrived at the game, young Carlton was suffering from sensory overload. This was his FIRST football game, let alone, first black college football game. People were cursing, talking trash to one another, the men had on obscene amount of cologne, the women had on very little obscene clothing, and everyone was just loud. I saw lots of people I went to school with, and despite my attempts to act like I didn't see them, they found me, and bored me with small talk and b.s conversation. Normally, I would humor them, but I was spending time with my son, and I wasn't up to it. Carlton took pictures, he told me what plays Hampton should run, and it was just an overall good time. Every father should have the opportunity to take their son to the game, because it is truly a bonding experience. At one point, of the cheerleaders was bent over, and my son said Daddy, you can see her underwear. I looked over, and said why yes...yes you can Carlton, and then we both looked at the nice ass in the underwear for a minute. I hope this means he doesn't have the gay...not that there's anything wrong with that. Carlton also got the chance to meet Senator George Allen, who was at the game trying to trick all the Negroes at the HBCU campus into voting for him in the upcoming election. Some people prefer black churches, Senator Allen stepped up his game and went to a black college football game. Anyway, he shook Carlton's hand, then shook mine. It was my duty to explain who he was to Carlton, without the personal commentary, which was very difficult.

Okay,I'm not going to recap the entire visit, but the point is, we had lots of fun, and I told him that I'd be back next weekend. And I can't lie, I definitely have this glow about me today, that will hopefully last for a long time. When I get the pictures developed, I"ll link them on here. Oh, and Carlton did notice my beard, which made me smile.

And for the latest installment of "I'm getting old". When I returned to Hampton's campus, I was amazed at how young some of the students looked. But I was REALLY thrown off by all the cell phones. Now I know cell phones are a staple of society now, but just 14 years ago, when I first stepped on campus, NOBODY had a cell phone at all. So after football games, we couldn't call around to see what was going on, we had to physically walk around campus to stumble upon parties. Come to think of it, back in '92, we barely even had computer, and there definitely no laptops. I know I shouldn't act like I'm 50 or something, but that really did make me feel like a senior citizen.

Anyway, in honor of 1992, my freshman year of college, here is Brian McKnight