Go Red for Women

I'm constantly amazed at the unique opportunities that come from working for P&G here in Northwest Arkansas. I've been introduced to the circuit of lunches that raise money for charitable causes, attending as a guest of either my company, or of a co-worker who volunteers for one of those groups.

I have attended a Susan G. Komen event, a CASA luncheon, and today, attended the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" annual event. Definitely a worthy cause; certainly every one of us has been touched by heart disease in some way.

Did I mention that Kirk Herbstreit was the keynote speaker?!

You know I love to run (I can hear the groans; yes, I know I talk about it constantly). I love football about as much as I love to run. I love college football with a fervor that has only intensified since moving to SEC Country. If you're a college football fan, too, then ESPN's College Gameday is likely an important part of your Saturday routine in the best season of the year (not fall, people - FOOTBALL season).

I have enough like-minded co-workers that we even co-opted the College Gameday theme for our office's annual campaign supporting the United Way. It helps that I'm the co-chair and have input to the theme, but still. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the idea.

P&G's Des, Fowler, Corso and Herbie - pretty good, huh?

So today, combine support of a worthy cause with Kirk Herbstreit, and it's clearly a good day.

But it got better.

I had the opportunity to join the pre-lunch meet and greet with Kirk, which I figured would be a quick handshake and a picture. Not minimizing that - super cool, right?! I mean, how often do you get to shake hands with Herbie and have a picture taken with him? Turns out, the guy is as easy going as he appears on TV. He didn't just shuffle people through the line; he stopped and chatted for a minute, and seemed to genuinely enjoy being there.

Fast forward through lunch to his remarks where he revealed that he'd been through his own episode of managing a heart condition, and we get to the Q&A portion of the presentation. Being the shy, retiring wallflower that I am, I was ready - and got my chance as the last question-asker of the day.

So I asked what was on the mind of everyone, everywhere: How did you manage to keep a straight face during the National Title game when Musburger started talking about Miss Alabama???

Followed by: What do Johnny Football and the Aggies have to do to beat Alabama again this year? (This was followed by several Whoops and Gig 'Ems in the audience - Aggies are everywhere, I tell you.)

Gratuitous Johnny Manziel picture

He answered the Johnny Football question first, essentially saying that he's a sensation akin to Joe Namath who brings a presence and a buzz that's going to make next season a lot of fun everywhere the Aggies go. He also mentioned he's pretty sure that Coach Saban has a plan for his visit to College Station next year, but DUH.

I figured he was going to skip over the question about Musburger, but he surprised me by returning to it - and cracked me up when he said, in obvious honesty, he didn't know what to think. He was like, "Wow - where do we go with this? Back to the game..."

So there you have it, sports fans. He was thinking what everybody else was thinking. About Musburger, I mean. Can't say what he was thinking about Miss Alabama. I didn't ask him that.