I have been a bundle of nerves as the college football season kicked off this past weekend. My first game, the Northwestern-Miami (OH) game on Thursday was more or less a warm-up to the Saturday rumble that took place across the country.

While the NU-Miami game should have been a homecoming for Randy Walker, it was forced to turn into a memorial for the man who was taken from his career, players, fans, and family by a heart attack this past June. Nothing is more eerie than standing in a packed stadium, minutes before kickoff, and pausing for a moment of silence. Seeing thousands of faces but only hearing the rustle of the wind blowing through the stadium for the longest 30 seconds of your life is more deafening than any European soccer stadium could aspire to.

To play tribute to the late coach, fans wore white shirts that said "WALK" on the front and that is exactly what both teams did...they walked through the first half of that game. With a score of 0-0 at half, I began to wonder if any game had ever gone in to overtime because it was scoreless by the end of regulation. Luckily, the red zone caught some action in the second half and the Northwestern Wildcats were victorious in their 21-3 win. With a young Pat Fitzgerald as coach and a freshman QB at the helm, it was a nice victory for the team who has had to overcome so much, but Saturday proved that the Big Ten is vicious this year and the Wildcats have much to work on before their Big Ten opener.

Friday night tailgates quickly turned in to Saturday morning kegs n' eggs. As I cracked open my 11AM Miller Lite at the College of Nursing alumni event (thanks Mom, for the tickets) I began to wonder if Cinderella teams of last season, like Rutgers and Vanderbilt, would continue their wave of wins by shocking their home opening opponents.

By 11:30AM I woke up and realized that the inaugural football Saturday would be the typical blowout of the DI-AA schools that agree to have their ass kicked so powerhouse schools can score an easy home opener. (At least everyone gets to walk home with a big check, made payable to each school's athletic department.)

While it was raining in Columbus, the sun was shining in Texas. The real McCoy, freshman Colt McCoy showed up for the UT victory against Northern Texas. Of course, even Bevo would have been able to out score this puny team that hasn't been able to score more than 10 points in their last six games. It's hard to judge how good the defending national champions really are when they play a team that is so outmatched, even a high school team could have scored on Northern Texas.

As the eyes of the nation turn on Austin next weekend for the rematch of Ohio State and Texas, it's very difficult to gage how each team will fare against each other. At least Ohio State took on a slightly more talented "lesser team" for their home opener. The opponent, Northern Illinois, was the MAC champion last season, and has their own Heisman candidate in running back Garrett Wolfe. Their QB, Phil Horvath also had the highest passing efficiency in the nation last season, at roughly 70%. I know the MAC is far from the ACC or the SEC, but at least Ohio State was playing a team with championships and talent on their sideline.

The Ohio State offense came on to the field like fireworks, scoring so quickly and viciously, you would have thought John Cooper was back on headset as head coach. As many Buckeye faithful know, Jim Tressel is not about running up the score, but when the teams took to the locker room at halftime, 28-3, you wondered how anyone on the Huskies bench could prevent a blowout.While the final score depicts a victory of 35-12, Ohio State has a long leap to take before heading to Austin next weekend.

At this particular moment, the only reason Austin has an advantage on this game is because of home field advantage. The fans will make all the difference. While Ohio State has the offensive power to make prime rib out of Bevo, the Texas defense has years of experience on Ohio State. I'm already sick to my stomach about the game and it's still a week away.

Now dear diary...I know it's not nice to wish ill will on any team, I have to admit that my inner voice was shouting 'Whoopie!' as I watched golden child Brady Quinn struggle against the Bees of Georgia Tech. Perhaps it's because I am so sick of hearing all the Irish faithful purchase their BCS championship tickets in the off season because they feel entitled to game thanks to their coach and QB. It was nice to prove once again that nothing in college football is certain. While Notre Dame may have scored a "W," it came with many stunned looks of horror and fright. Don't pack your bags yet, Charlie.

There is no perfect team in college football this season. Everyone is going through growing pains. While USC still won, many great teams struggled to earn their win. Oklahoma got by UAB on a pray called Adrian Peterson while Tennessee finally pulled their heads out of their butts by proving that Cal is overrated. Auburn wasn't looking too pretty in the first quarter, but Penn State might have a chance without Michael Robinson at the helm.

Next week...Penn State at Notre Dame AND Ohio State at Texas

Football is America's alpha male. All things masculine, testosterone-infused, and worthy of a "guy's night out" tend to congregate around a pitcher of beer and the nightly game. Monday Night Football even gives the ladies a chance to eat hot wings, sport their favorite NFL jersey, and act like one of the boys. It is a sport that has something for everyone. For the guys, it is a chance to witness modern day gladiators fight to the death in cement coliseums. For the gals, they can shamelessly watch men in spandex and follow their favorite 'tight end' to the endzone.

But this is 2006...red and blue states, right and left, gay and straight. While it may be easier to distinguish the sports bars from the gay bars in the Midwest, here in New York it is getting harder and harder to tell the Wall Streeters from the Chelsea Boys. The lines that used to separate heterosexual from homosexual behavior are blurring more and more each day. I used to consider myself a champion of "gaydar" but what I've come to recognize in New York is that men no longer fall to such extremes and many that I used to suspect as straight are gay and visa versa.

Sports are universal, regardless of sexual preference, and anyone can enjoy them on either side of the ball. While gay ice skaters and swimmers are hardly shocking, what if we had a gay football star? Many gay men are already football fans, but is America ready for gay sports stars in traditional alpha male roles?

Before you stop reading, disturbed by such a proposition, imagine the hypothetical. In Richard Greenberg's Tony Award winning play, Take Me Out, a fictional baseball star shocks the world when he announces he's gay. The playwright explores the modern day paradox of a hugely popular 'alpha male sports figure' who breaks the mold by shattering sexual conventions. Can the beer and nacho sports fan still love a dynamic player who falls left of center?

In Take Me Out, Greenberg illustrates the hypothetical by creating a fictional team, the New York Empires (dressed in pinstripe uniforms), and focuses his story around the star player, Darren Lemming. (When the play debuted in New York, that star player had a striking resemblance to Derek Jeter.) The play further explores the way Darren's homosexuality affects the locker room, his teammates, gay supporters, and the traditional American sports fan.

Granted, the play dealt with baseball, but can you imagine what might happen if a major NFL quarterback broke boundaries and headlines if he were to make a similar announcement? If The Sopranos can write a storyline about a gay capo, the idea of a gay football star isn't inconceivable. To be honest, I believe that player already exists. I'm not talking about ex-NFL star Esera Tuaolo who recently published a book about living as a closet-gay man in the NFL, I'm talking about a bona fide star player in the prime of his career announcing he is gay.

If there is one thing we all learned in the last presidential election, it's that America is divided by red and blue states. While the dominance and acceptance of homosexual behavior may favor the blue, the middle grounds of red states have a stronghold over majority opinion. As a straight girl with a gay roommate and numerous gay friends, (and a preference for gay bars because they are wickedly fun and non-threatening to women), I have no problem with a gay football star. In fact, I think it would welcome an entirely new type of football supporter, one that has rarely experienced the sport because many gay men and women feel ostracized by the average football fan.

Football players are seen as strong and dominant. Therefore, how appropriate that a male football star takes the initiative and has the courage to stand up before society and admit his sexuality. Having witnessed too many friends struggle with their homosexuality and resist telling their friends and family, such a star would be an inspiration to people who are ready to come clean about who they are. If a high profile man admitted he was gay perhaps more people would understand that sexuality is a trait that cannot be chosen, changed, or reversed.

On the flip side, I can already see those red states and their inhabitants throwing up their hands in horror that such a lifestyle would ruin the sport, the team, morale, and all things sacred to the American dream. Football players are seen as the 'ultimate male,' so how could that man be gay?

Perhaps more perplexing is how this behavior might alter the team morale and locker room conduct. Would straight players feel uncomfortable to shower or walk around nude as they traditionally have in the past? Would they still protect and follow the audibles of their gay quarterback? Would trust between players be abandoned and the team suffer in the long run? While I'd like to think that most players would be supportive of their quarterback and his announcement, I cannot begin to answer these questions because I don't know how the offensive line might react.

In Esera Tuaolo's book, Alone in the Trenches: My Life as a Gay Man in the NFL, the former Green Bay Packer discusses the stress, torment, and fear that he constantly lived with being gay and playing football. While he may be the third player ever in the NFL to come out, his story only illustrates how difficult it can be living with such a secret. While no one doubt's Tuaolo's "manliness" as a defensive powerhouse, many believe that his teammates would have turned on him and eaten him alive if he had come out while still playing.

Gay football stars exists, but just like the Army, a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy applies in the NFL. For a player to make such an assertion would be a gargantuan gamble. Not only is he willing to put his career on the line (and millions of dollars), he is subjecting his character to vast criticism and a national debate. In the end he could come out as a hero, a martyr, and a pariah.

Besides the risk the individual player would face, the NFL would have a publicity nightmare to settle. Right-winged fans many may chose to show their displeasure by boycotting NFL games and merchandise, thus creating financial woe to the organization. While many liberal supporters of the player may creep from the woodwork to cheer him on, would they support the NFL by making up for the loss of conservative fans? The NFL isn't ready or willing to find out.

Today it is just a hypothetical, tomorrow it could be the next Hollywood movie, but someday it will be a reality. I applaud the man who has the guts to come forward, but I do not envy the hard and controversial decisions he will have to make.

*Check out www.AbsoluteBestNews.com, where I am a featured contributor.

10) How can a former Mennonite-turned world renowned cyclist be caught doping? For a guy who grew up without electricity and worked the earth as a farmer, maybe he really does have naturally high testosterone from the lack of estrogen in his home environment. Then again, he was smart enough to leave Pennsylvania and join the modern world...maybe he's like those crazy Amish kids you hear about who get two weeks of freedom from the compound and all they do is drugs and have sex before they return to the life of propriety.   

7) I have entered a Foxsports.com college football fantasy pool and I'm thinking about taking up Mr. NFL and joining his shin-dig...but I am a fantasy football virgin! I'm afraid I might be raped if I attempt the NFL. Guess it's worth the shot, even if I do make a fool out of myself.

6) Team USA defeats China 119-73. Thank goodness, considering the average American male is 5'9" (and African-American men are taller than any other racial group in America), with the average Chinese male ringing in at 5'6", I would think Team USA had some advantage.

5) Did any of us ever ask our athletes to take drugs to perform stronger? Do we expect them to be modern-day Hercules? I didn't think so.

4) I already have my DVR set for the television version of "Friday Night Lights."

3) I am so ready to quit my day job and just talk and write about sports.

2) After hanging out with my cousin, his wife, and their gorgeous toddler who is half-American, half-Japanese, and fluent in both languages, I have decided that I will move to Europe and find some handsome non-English speaking man to have children with so my kids will be bilingual as well. Brilliant!

1) Being ranked number 1 in the USAToday Coaches poll is more like wearing a massive target on your chest, but thank god we'll only need to wait until September 9th to see the national championship game this season with OSU and Texas meeting in Austin.

            August...the eighth month of the calendar year, the last month of oppressive heat, the final countdown of summer...and the official start of college football! That's right, while boys of summer slug it out on the diamond, our golden boys of the gridiron return to campus this month to begin preparations for the next chapter in NCAA football.

            During the off-season, we witnessed underclassmen turn in their student ID-cards for NFL contracts. We mourned the loss of coaches who retired their headsets, and we continued to follow the police activity of a few rascally players who couldn't keep their noses clean.

            On the dusty sun-bleached fields of their college stomping grounds, players will unite to awake the hibernating football appetite that has been dormant since January. No amount of winter or spring training will prepare them for sweat that is about to roll in their eyes as they run sprints in the August sun, all for the chance to dawn that one piece of apparel that sets them apart from the common man: the team jersey.

            These boys don't need steroids to prove their manhood; they just need suitable attire. The perfect jersey is one that combines classic styling, carefully coordinated colors, historic intimidation, and a talented body to fill out the appropriate garment.

            As a devout follower of all things football and fashion, the following are my favorite college jerseys and the top players who will be modeling these fine garments this coming fall.

IOWA HAWKEYES

OREGON DUCKS

Oregon wins the award for the most non-conventional jersey in the bunch. They even went so far as to use a pattern on their jersey, which makes the garment resemble something we might have seen at the FIFA World Cup. Being a traditionalist, I'm not sure I'd approve of the jersey for my team, but I have to say, I can't stop checking out these Ducks! More so, perhaps we all should check out quarterback DENNIS DIXON. Living in the shadow of Kellen Clemmons isn't easy, but at 6'4" Dixon has the goods to be the next Vince Young of the upper Pacific. 

LSU TIGERS

Purple: the color of royalty and a staple of Mardi Gras; so it is appropriate that this Louisiana team stick to their roots and proudly proclaim their dominance in the Big Easy with a jersey that begs to be ogled. Sure, it's flamboyant, but after the way LSU manhandled Miami in the Peach Bowl last year (40-3), injured quarterback JAMARCUS RUSSELL has plenty of reasons to flash his goods that hide under this hood. He was the man to get the team to that big game, but will he be 100% to start the season with two other hungry Tigers lurking in the Bayou?

MIAMI HURRICANES

Well, well, speak of the devil...while the Hurricane pride might have taken a beating in post-season play, this classic gale-force jersey seems to withstand the Miami heat. While many things make Miami hot, Larry Coker is hoping his young quarterback, KYLE WRIGHT can move past the Peach Bowl blowout and restore some fire to the Miami offense. Miami has lacked a strong leader ever since Ken Dorsey vacated his green jersey in 2003. (But to be honest, he didn't do the jersey any justice the way Santana Moss and Kellen Winslow did.)

TEXAS LONGHORNS

No other team could possibly look hotter in their whites than the boys from UT. There really isn't anything sexy about burnt orange, but Vince Young filled out his whites in style. The words alone, "burnt orange," create mono-syllabic dissonance. I mean, how does one burn the color orange? Regardless, while Mack Brown begs for a quarterback miracle, he can put some trust in sophomore running back JAMAAL CHARLES. Even with a nagging ankle injury last season, Mr. Charles managed a dandy 878 yards behind a historic offense, but without Mr. Young, will a lack of leadership result in newfound problems for the backfield?

UCLA BRUINS

Man, nothing is sexier than a bronzed California beach boy in baby blue. Just look at it! Doesn't it make you want cruise around in your convertible blasting "I Get Around" and admit that while that other LA college team may have Heismans and national titles to spare, at least your team looks phenomenal in uniform?! CHRIS MARKEY didn't need a car in the Sun Bowl last season when he racked up 161+ rushing yards in UCLA's dominant victory over Northwestern. (That was after Maurice Drew put up 150 yards and went out on an injury.) His shifty feet have come in handy to pick up first downs and run kickoff returns just as easy as he picks up fellow co-eds.

PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS

Penn State's uber-traditional and classic jersey is about as standard and rustic as JoePa's bottle cap glasses. The jersey itself has inspired white-outs in the stands at Happy Valley. No mascot is needed to mare this jersey when fans have to endure the screaming lion over the stadium speakers every two-seconds. Regardless, this classic beauty takes a beating by All-American linebacker PAUL POSLUSZNY. The guy was a defensive tour-de-force last season, earning several Big Ten accolades and numerous awards, such as the Butkus, in 2005. In a league that is kowtowed as a linebacker finishing school, this guy could make a fabulous run for the Heisman if other league offensive juggernauts (mainly QBs) fail to impress this season.

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH

Irish faithful may refer to the green jersey as "cursed," but Knute Rockne was on to something when he instilled fear in opponents by flashing the wicked garment and forever can be credited with utilizing clothing as a psychological tool. Unfortunately, this particular jersey has spawned more losses than upsets, but there is something radiant about the green that simply upstages the navy blue and gold that typified the Lou Holtz era. Perhaps BRADY QUINN can put last year's green losses to USC and OSU behind him and continue Charlie's march to the championship in 2006. This quarterback is well on his way to Irish sainthood if he can improve upon ND's 9-3 season of last year and consistently connect with Jeff Samardzija for more high offensive games. (The kid had 3900 passing yards in 2005.) Should Quinn take it all to the bank, you can bet that the Irish faithful are already making space for another Heisman trophy.

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES

When your team mascot is a poisonous nut, you need a standout jersey to put the snickering to rest. Of course when you are Ohio State, your reputation and national dominance are enough to instill fear in your opponents. While the scarlet and gray combo is catchy, it's not nearly as exciting as the tag team effort by fellow players TROY SMITH and TED GINN Jr. Both are pre-season Heisman favorites, but this dynamic duo of QB and WR have lit a fire in the Ohio State offense that hasn't been seen since the John Cooper era. While Jim Tressel plays a patient and safe game, he has an offense this season that could make its way back to the National Championship game and repeat the 2003 dream season if the defense can recover after the loss of several top draftees.

      So there you have it. My personal jersey favorites paired with the best players who wear them. Although I believe all these teams will have stand-out seasons, it is too early to make any predications about the BCS championship. The first game to make the BCS more clear will happen on September 16, when Ohio State goes to Austin to meet Texas under the lights. The victor of that game will be a shoe-in for the BCS dance. I'm tempted to say that game could determine the championship, but with Texas' untested quarterback and Ohio State's young defense, anything could happen.

      Therefore, get your tailgates warmed up, play the fight songs loud and clear, and make sure you have enough face paint to cover your entire body because college football is upon us and may the chaos reign for the next four months!