Dave from Carter-Finley

So unless you’ve been living on Mars for the past month you know that Sunday was the series finale of LOST (ABC’s much ballyhooed sci-fi, drama, action, mystery, thriller … it fits into almost every genre that exists).  I started watching it towards the end of season one and, even though I was ‘lost’ and confused most of the time, it became one of my favorite shows of all time.  I never was one of those obsessed Losties, however.  I mean I only have 4 Dharma jumpsuits, 8 cases of Dharma beer, 15 LOST posters, 16 LOST castaway action figures, subscribe to 23 different LOST podcasts, and read 42 different LOST blogs.  Well none of that’s true, but even if it were I would still only be considered a ‘casual’ LOST fan.  Nevertheless I wanted to bid a heartfelt farewell to the series.  Now that we have ‘all’ the answers I wonder how different going back and re-watching the series would be?  I might have to try that sometime.

Now why did I like LOST so much?  It wasn’t because of the polar bears or the smoke monster thingy or the flashes (back, forward, and sideways) or the hatch or the Dharma Initiative or the tropical island in the middle of nowhere or even that lovable fat guy that actually seemed to gain weight while stranded on said island.  All that stuff was great, but the thing that got me was LOST paralleled my own personal journey of becoming a fanatical diehard NC State football fan.  I’ll try to be brief so here goes.

September 4, 1999 (my first home football game as a NC State Student) was when my plane crashed on the Carter-Finley island.  Sitting through Hurricane Dennis to watch the 10-0 win over the Gamecocks was the moment my eye opened (so let’s just say that I’m like Jack).

I’ve dealt with UNC fans (the ‘Others’) and fought against the evil UNC biased media (mysterious polar bears/smoke monster).  I’ve also interacted with the Wolfpack Club (Dharma Initiative), been trapped in many of their fund raising initiatives (research stations) including those LTRs (hatch).  I’ve even had to write that membership dues check over and over and over to keep everything intact (hatch numbers).

There’s been players like Philip Rivers, Jerricho Cotchery, Dantonio Burnette, Mario Williams, etc. that came along that were absolute dynamite and critical to my journey (Locke, Sayid, Sawyer, Hurley, etc.).  There were also those players like  T.A. McLendon, Marcus Stone, etc. that I had high hopes for that just fizzled out and were ultimately forgotten (Mr. Eko, Walt, etc.).  There is my soulmate Mrs. DFCF (Kate) and even though we technically met and started dating in high school, she didn’t really discover who I was until that first NC State football season and she still chose to stay by my side.  I will say our relationship is nothing like Jack/Kate, it’s more on the level of Sawyer/Juliet … except for that whole going Dutch part.  Mrs. DFCF never got that memo.

I even missed one home game (left the island) vs. Middle Tennessee State on November 19, 2005 and quickly regretted that decision and returned to the island immediately never trying to leave again.  I’ve seen the seemingly invincible AD Lee Fowler (island care taker Jacob) get eliminated and failed miserably at trying to make a huge impact by starting this blog (detonating that hydrogen bomb).  Also somehow along the way the smoke monster took over TOB’s body and is trying to ruin everything.  Seriously, this guy won 8/9 games every year at BC … something’s definitely taken over his body, right?

I could go on and on about how my journey has paralleled the LOST journey, but the one problem is I’ve yet to get to that enlightenment phase.  I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to accept that NC State football is not perfect and my fandom will never die.  Can I just put my house on the market already and move to the sideways world where NC State football is always winning championships?

Yeah I know this post was crazy and probably confusing (it’s not like that on purpose … promise), but it’s my tribute to LOST.  I’m sure everybody could make some sort of parallel between their life’s journey and that of LOST.  That’s what made the show so great.  I will miss it, but I have a funny feeling that some spinoff or remake will pop up in the future.  Until then … Namaste!