One of my really good friends, who has absolutely no ties to SFA other than knowing me and has only lived in Texas for the past few years is one of the biggest SFA fans I've ever met. When I met him and he found out I went to SFA, he told me that he's been a massive SFA basketball fan since the Danny Kasper years, saying he just loved how aggressive SFA played all the time and that it was gritty, hard nosed basketball. He'd never been to an SFA game in person but he kept up with SFA very closely.
He was a massive Texas Longhorns fan in everything else. He never missed a UT football game in Austin or missed UT in any other sport, but in basketball, he was all about the Jacks. Dude had more SFA basketball shirts than I do. So for his birthday(actually 2 weeks ago), I surprised him and told him I was gonna take him to Nac to watch the Jacks take on the Crimson Tide. Dude was super excited and couldn't wait.
Last week he lost his long battle with depression, and unfortunately won't be able to make the trip with me. But now this game means a lot more to me. So I can't wait to be in the stands, cheering my ass off, watching our Jacks send the Crimson Tide home sad, and watching our Jacks march into conference play with a new head of steam and confidence that can only be found taking down an SEC opponent.