March 1st, 2014 was an incredible day.
I married my sweetheart in Savannah, Georgia where we danced the night away, thanked the good Lord for each other and created memories with family and friends, which would last a lifetime. Also, pizza. Yes, Pizza.
You see in 2013 I traveled with ESPNU Road Trip to Louisville and covered their game week 2 against Western Kentucky. It wasn’t the sexiest matchup, but Teddy Bridgewater was all over SportsCenter as a Heisman hopeful and Lorenzo Mauldin was roughing up offenses all across the ACC.
Ali and I played a little bit of field hockey, visited Churchill Downs, learned how to ride race horses via Calvin Borrel and OF COURSE SPENT COUNTLESS HOURS WITH THE ONE AND ONLY PAPA JOHN!
Papa and I instantly became BFF’s. We had an official Papa Johns pizza code after the episode, which the future Palmers fully took advantage of, because, pizza.
The best part was a few months after our initial encounter we got the best surprise of all. Papa and his team delivered 50 scrumptious pies to our venue and set up the most perfect late night pizza bar for our guests. We had pizza, peppers, and sauce a plenty. Michael and I rode off into wedding bliss (complete with a stop afterwards at Waffle House) and witnessed our family and friends walking back to their respective hotels with boxes in hand.
Thank you, Papa!
Oh. And see you soon. At your stadium. On Saturday.
Be sure to watch Houston @ Louisville, September 12th at 12:03 EST on Fox Sports. Tom Werme and Ovie Mughelli are in the booth; I'll be reporting from the sideline.
Peace. Love. Pizza. (and Papa.)
- Niki