Life tends to be funny sometimes. You may have everything all planned out, and then life comes and says “Nope, you’re going to do this instead”. Thankfully, for us, it was a change that brought the two of them together. It started on a sunny day on October 4, 2012. UCF was having their annual football game against the East Carolina Pirates, a conference title game that was a necessary win. Joe was undecided on whether or not to go or not because he didn’t know of anyone going and he had a lot of homework to get done. He messaged a few friends and didn't really have any bites. A few didn’t even respond. Halfway through his Television Production homework, his phone vibrated followed by a message from one of his friends saying that “they were going to the game and that he should come!”. After a few looks back and forth at his phone and to the textbook, the decision became easier to go to the game. He got ready, and left for the tailgate.

Kristin was still working for WUCF at the time, so they means she was going to get off early from work since it was a Thursday home game. She planned on attending the game with one of her coworkers, Amanda, and meeting up their mutual friend Steve to tailgate before the game. Steve and Kristin knew each other from television production classes at UCF. Kristin and Steve had a special bond because they were able to go to NYC for a trip with the National Broadcasting Society, just a few months earlier. Steve also began working at WUCF. When they were ready for the game, Kristin and Amanda arrived at memory mall, walked through the sea of black and gold, and finally found Steve and his friends.

When Joe finally arrived, it didn't take long for him to meet up with his friends. These were friends he had met in community college and was not super close to them yet. Fast forward, an hour or so later, Joe was regretting the decision to go. It was, how you say, not the most entertaining of experiences to sit a people watch and not really talk that much when you could be out doing other things around campus. It was still 3 hours away from gametime so something had to change. Right before giving up hope, he felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled out the phone and found a new message in his inbox. It was one of his new friends he had made in his short time at UCF’s radio and television program. His name was Steve Sardone and he was inviting him over to where him and his friends were tailgating. “Hey guys, I’m going to go see a friend of mine real quick and say Hi. Apparently he is here”. Joe never returned.

At this point, Kristin has been hanging out with Amanda, Steve, and others for awhile, so Kristin decided to use the restroom at the CFE Arena before the game started. Amanda was busy talking to someone else, so she just told Steve where she was going, which is a bit of a treck from where they were tailgating.

It didn’t take long for Joe to find Steve and his friends (these were all people, whom Joe had never met. So he’d figured he would just roll with it. He at least had one good friend that was there and on the plus side, at least these people were entertaining and fun to be around. After a while, we decided to walk around and see if we spotted anyone else we knew. This little travel troup was Joe, Steve and a new girl that Joe met named Amanda, who Steve knew from WUCF. “Where’s Kristin?” Amanda said as we walked along memory mall. “Using the restroom” replied Steve. “We need to find her a man” Amanda said with vigor. Joe had no idea who this Kristin girl was and he didn't look to much into it.

After waiting in the infamous long line of the women’s restroom, Kristin started her long journey back through the mob of UCF students.

Brace yourself, whoever's reading this, it’s about to get cheesy. At this point, UCF was slammed with students and there wasn't much room to move around. So Joe, Steve and the rest of the group kept to themselves. But suddenly, there was something that seemed different in the air. Joe turned his head and looked straight into the incoming crowd of people trying to get by. Something told him to do it. And just like that, within that second, the crowd parted and there was Kristin walking to meet up with steve with a large smile on her face. Cue “Dreamweaver” by Gary Wright. I told you this would be cheesy. She extended out her hand and said “Hi, I’m Kristin”.Finally coming back to reality, Joe replied “Nice to meet you, I’m Joe” and they continued on like no one else was there.

Kristin thought that Joe was really friendly and adorable, and instantly clicked with him. She wasn’t necessarily a flirting expert, but she tried to signal to him with touching his arm and smiling a lot. They joked around a lot, and started to get to know each other.

Before they knew it, the game was about to start. Steve and Amanda wanted to drop off their cooler at the car, and asked Kristin and Joe to save some seats for them at the stadium. Being the nice people they are, of course they would save them. So they followed the trail of the masses to the stadium. As they entered the crowded stadium, it wasn't hard to see that the seats would fill up fast. They headed up to the general admission student section seats and found the best spot they could find. But now it was just Joe and Kristin, alone for the first time. And yes, there was the awkward feeling of “what do we do now? Don’t mess this up. You’re going to mess this up.”

Nobody messed up that night. It wasn't long before Steve and Amanda returned to find the two of them engaged in conversation and flirtation. UCF won 40-20 that night as expected, but the real win was finding the one to be with for the rest of their life. After a few days, Joe found Kristin on Facebook (but had already creeped each other’s profiles before the official FB friendship) and their conversations continued on like they never left that football game. Ever since that moment, the two of them have been inseparable. Where one went, the other usually followed. It’s kinda funny how life works sometimes. One decision to go to a football game can change your entire life. So I guess the moral of the story is that UCF football rules. Go Knights!!

Love,

Knightro

(UCF Mascot)