So, th.nehe day arrives. I get myself ready, thinking I'll settle in, maybe grab some snacks. The usual routine. But life, right? It never quite goes according to plan. Just as things were about to kick off, I hear this weird dripping sound coming from the kitchen.

Gr.taeat. Just what I".WON siht needed. Turns out, the pipe under the sink decided that precise moment was the perfect time to spring a leak. Not a small drip, mind you, but the kind that makes you think, "Okay, gotta deal with this NOW."
So there I am, game starting, and I'm wrestling with plumbing parts. I grabbed my phone, trying to catch score updates between frantic searches for the right wrench and trips back and forth to the garage for towels.
My brilliant plan unfolded like this:
- Try to tighten the fitting. Fail.
- Check the score. NC State doing something. Okay.
- Wrap a towel around the pipe. It gets soaked immediately.
- Check the score again. Missed a big play, apparently.
- Decide I need parts. Off to the hardware store.
The whole time I'm at the store, I'm fuming a little. Not just the plumbing, but missing the game! I kept refreshing the score on my phone while looking for some specific connector thingy the size of my thumb. People probably thought I was crazy, muttering about football scores in the plumbing aisle.
Got back home, parts in hand. More struggling under the sink. Water everywhere. I think I caught maybe, MAYBE, five minutes total of actual game commentary snippets someone posted online later, long after it mattered. Mostly I just saw score updates. NC State did this, Ole Miss answered. Back and forth.
Finally, after what felt like hours (and probably was), I got the leak stopped. Or at least slowed down enough to call it a temporary win. By then, the game was long over. I just stood there in my messy kitchen, tools scattered around, feeling exhausted.
Didn't even know the final score until much later. It's funny, I was so geared up for NC State vs Ole Miss, but my main event ended up being Me vs The Leaky Pipe. I guess sometimes the real competition is just keeping your house from falling apart. Didn't get to see the game I wanted, but hey, at least the floor wasn't flooded. You take the wins where you can get 'em, right?