Good morning.

It's that great transitional weekend. Summer is over. Many are already back in school, and it's move-in weekend in Boston for the multitude of colleges in this city.


It's also cruise ship season here in my business, which got off to a chaotic start yesterday. Among some of us here, our external pursuits may be transitioning from the diamond to the gridiron. I'm looking at my beloved Reds; they're still one game out of the Wild Card, but on the wrong trajectory. The Red Sox were all done at the All-Star break.

There is something new that I will have some passing curiosity in this season. We only have one real college football team in this city, the Boston College Eagles. They are long past their prime; the glory days were decades ago now. BC is primarily a hockey school these days. Given the ever-changing world of semipro sports, BC is now a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference, so both the football and basketball teams routinely play some of the powerhouses to the South.

A dear friend at the trolley is from Alabama, and he lives and dies by the Crimson Tide. I always mess with him during the fall, as my preferred collegiate sport will be getting off the ground in just a couple of weeks. My alma mater is mounting another defense of the coveted "Beanpot" trophy in this city. It's some months away, but come January and February, we'll all be about those Huskies around here.

On this Labor Day though, I might peer in a bit on the Clemson Tigers. They'll be taking on Duke to open their football season.

Um - Clemson?

Sure, why not? I have no skin in the game. I didn't go to any of the football schools around here, and while Mrs. TriSec did, she remains indifferent to the entire affair. Clemson visited Boston last season, and as we say in the trade, their fans "travel well". Last fall, Boston was awash with a sea of orange and purple. I still have a few of the Clemson $2 kicking around.

So - seeing what a grand old time everybody was having with us, I did become slightly interested. Curiously enough, when I went to Florida three times last year, I drove through Clemson territory all three times in South Carolina. One of my preferred truck stops in Florence, although nowhere near the campus, was awash in their school colors, and I nearly bought some stuff.

It will certainly be a new diversion for me, especially if the miserable weather New England has been having all year continues. I anticipate spending a lot of time indoors in the coming weeks and months.