Aaaaaaaaaaaand we're back.

Cuttin' in Line, the voice of a Baylor alumnus, written for all Alumni coming from a place far far away from Central Texas, has returned. After a three month summer vacation spent consuming baseball, changing careers and of course hyping the upcoming football season, it is great to be back in the good graces of BaylorBears.com.

So as thousands of BU students, faculty and staff return to campus to gear up for another year of academia, it is once again time to assume my role in offering a view from a devoted alumnus still consumed with the Baylor athletics.

This fall's back-to-school season marks the 10-year anniversary of my official induction into Baylor regalia. That's significant, I contend. How significant, you ask?

Well as I sit here thinking about my initial impression of what eventually became my alma mater, I can't help but become engrossed in the severity of what my 10-year affiliation to this school represents.

Somewhere in the middle of August 1999 I arrived on campus in Waco. Mom and Dad dropped me off at Martin Hall, made sure I was familiar with the fire escape routes and asked only that I would call home and visit the campus library regularly.

Funny as it may seem, I can still remember the aromas of Martin Hall, the suffocating humidity that being a Chicago kid had never prepared me for and that feeling of being a college student on my own for the first time.

It's easy to remember for me, probably because it seems like just the other day.

That fall semester brought with it the first email I had ever penned, my first MP3 ever downloaded and my introduction to the musical genre "Texas Country." It's a time in my life (and probably yours) unparallel to any other. I mean, how often in your life do you share a bedroom with a complete stranger, for nine months much less?

That first year on campus, you probably implemented a brand new diet, found new reasons to take mid day naps regularly and sent no less than 200 free Blue Mountain e-greeting cards to family and friends.

You remember being a Baylor Bear and you loved it.

In that spirit, I am here once more to provide an off-kilter voice as we embark on another season of BU sports. I may be a few years removed from my undergraduate era, may live more than a few states north of Texas, but I'm still as close as ever to my beloved alma mater.

And there's plenty to be excited about this year as football season's kick off is now just a few days away.

A profound hope, optimism and confidence surround the football program. Nationwide talk of sophomore Robert Griffin III being one of the country's top quarterbacks and of the Bears possibly ending their bowl game drought is easy to find in any college football publication.

This year's team appears to have depth in the backfield, in the receiving core and stability at linebacker. Oh, and did I mention that "RG3" has looked even better than when we saw him last?

The momentum, progress and hype built up by this program which stemmed from a strong finish to last season will all be on the line as BU opens the season with a crucial game in Winston-Salem against Wake Forest.

I'll have some final thoughts (mostly suggestions on with whom to watch the game and who to text with during the game) on our opener against the Demon Deacons later in the week as we get closer to what I believe is our program's most anticipated opener in 10 years.

That 1999 opener, which I still recall watching with 30 strangers in the Martin Hall lobby, seems like just like other day.

SicEm!