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In September, espnWs weekly essay series will focus on college football.It is a beautiful day for football.After minimal rainfall in the wake of Hurricane Hermine, everyone breathed a collective sigh, the weather unfurled itself, and the sky cleared. Instead of the usual overly oppressive heat, there was a gentle breeze making its way through the stands, caressing passersby on their way to their seats. The 15th annual Palmetto Capital City Classic football game would go on as scheduled.Students swathed in purple and gold started to fill the stadium. Alumni displayed their paraphernalia, calling one another by their old college nicknames, the inside jokes and significance of the moment lost on me, a stranger.I find a seat and try to get into the game. For the first half I am engrossed, trying to forget that I am here without the man that loved this type of atmosphere. He could fellowship with anyone and used the game as an excuse to make new friends out of the people sitting nearby.My father went to Benedict College, a historically black liberal arts institution, founded in 1870 to give educational opportunities to freed slaves.Educators turned an 80-acre plantation into a factory for agents of change that embodied the values I learned at home: a respect for academics, professionalism and leadership, earned with hard work and dedication.My father had those ideals, along with the concepts of fairness, equality and black pride, hammered into him on the corners of Harden and Taylor streets, when he came to Benedict in the 1970s. I lost my dad to cancer three years ago in September, and every year around this time I get edgy.I stop sleeping. My lunch often goes untouched and many nights Im inconsolable.Unable to save myself from this grief, I hoped, in some way, to find him in football. I travel from Spartanburg to his old stomping grounds in Columbia, South Carolina. I decide to search for him at the apex of two things he loved: this school and football.There isnt a place that I go to when I need to find my dad -- I dont visit his gravesite often because he was never alive there. When I need him, I think of the things he was most passionate about, those spirited moments, and I chase them.So I focused on the swell and push of the crowd, the cat daddies in their Stacy Adams and pressed linen suits carrying cups of lemonade down the steps, swaying to the bands rendition of Michael Jacksons P.Y.T. and Princes Purple Rain.For the first half I watched the battle of brute force, and tried to keep up with the offensive plays, rushing yards, interceptions and missed field goals.Livingstone College scored first, but eventually Benedict got the interception, the first of three. With less than three minutes left in the half, the Tigers tied the score with a field goal.The score was now 3-3.Last year Livingstone won 49-6. This wasnt that type of game. The Tigers arent expected to win. They are in the midst of a 12-game losing streak and hadnt won a game since Oct. 25, 2014. After halftime I left the bleachers, desperate to shift the focus, unsure of what I would learn from all of this.I found my daddy when I smelled the fish. A small no-name trailer was selling whiting and flounder, and I knew that smell -- vegetable oil meeting Lawrys seasoning salt and cornmeal. I had to have it. I buy a plate -- five dollars is nothing when it comes to nostalgia.I dip my fillet in some mustard. I return to the stands, where Benedict is burning up the clock, playing defense. The score is 5-3, in favor of my dads alma mater.Game over.The football team stands in front of the marching band, listening, purple and gold helmets punching into the navy sky. Loyal fans, the ones who stayed, who stuck it out, singing at the top of their lungs, ferocious spirit and Tigers pride on display.My dad loved this, the comprehensive package: the food, the atmosphere, all of the sights and sounds of HBCU football culture.He lives in all of this, somewhere. I find him at the tailgates, the fish fry, the music, oh my God the music, that sweet blend of funk and R&B that cranks from the trucks of the fans before the game and follows us into the stadium, whispering about things that we all experience but are too hesitant to admit that we feel: love, loneliness and loss.Latria Graham is a writer, editor and cultural critic. She is currently living in South Carolina. Follow her @LGRaconteurHakeem Butler Womens Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Justin Pugh Womens Jersey . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. http://www.nflcardinalsrookiestore.com/Cardinals-Christian-Kirk-Jersey/ . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. Christian Kirk Jersey . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. David Johnson Womens Jersey . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors.Carli Lloyds path to coach James Galanis started with a humble plea from her dad: My daughter needs you.It was 2003 and Lloyd was having what could best be described as a career crisis. A talented midfielder who had excelled since she was 5, shed been cut from the under-21 U.S. national team. She decided to play out her senior year at Rutgers and then move on from soccer.Then she met Galanis. In the 13 years since, hes been her coach, mentor and even psychologist as shes risen to the top of the game.So after Lloyd scored her hat trick to lead the United States to victory last summer in the Womens World Cup final, she thanked Galanis. When she was named FIFA World Player of the Year in January, she thanked Galanis.Its his demeanor and his knowledge, and the way he says things. It was just this kind of instant respect that I had for him. He said to me: `This has to become the No. 1 thing in your life, and I was willing to do it, Lloyd said. And from that point on, from the minute we started together, everything that hes asked of me, I would do it every single day and Im still doing it today.Galanis is brutally honest about what he found when he first started working with Lloyd: a gifted player who had been coddled by coaches and who wasnt willing to put in the work to be great.She was just cruising by on her talent, he said. She was so much better than everyone else, but I knew that someday she was going to meet up with the rest of the Carli Lloyds, and because of her inconsistency and her lack of fitness she was in for rejection at some point.Galanis was a player himself back home in Australia. He came to the United States in 1997 and saw potential in training high-level soccer players for professional careers. In 2000, he founded the Universal Soccer Academy in Lumberton, New Jersey.James told my dad, `Look, Im going to train your daughter for free. Im going to get her on the national team. And all I ask in return is that she be as dedicated as she can be, Lloyd said. That was it.Galanis employs what he calls the Five Pillars: physical power, mental toughness, character, technical skills and tactical awareness.Both Lloyd and Galanis acknowledge the mental piece was one of the biggest obstacles, but she dutifully attacked the tasks he gave her.She sees that Im there for her. She sees that Im always working to make her better, Galanis said. And I see that shes fully dedicated and shes all in 110 percent with this. We both respect each other and support each oother.dddddddddddd So, yes, we know its special. And we knew it was special right from the beginning.Lloyds success wasnt magic; it was both a process and hard work, Galanis said. There were also setbacks: Lloyd was benched before the 2012 London Games by then-coach Pia Sundhage, who liked the combination of Shannon Boxx and Lauren Holiday in the central midfielder position. The demotion didnt last long, however, because Boxx was injured in the opener.Lloyd started the rest of the way and scored both goals in the gold-medal match against Japan at Wembley Stadium. Shes the only player to score winning goals in consecutive Olympic finals: At the Beijing Games in 2008, she scored in overtime for a 1-0 victory against Brazil.Her biggest moment came on the games biggest stage. She scored three goals in the first 16 minutes last summer in the World Cup final against Japan in Vancouver. Vice President Joe Biden was among the U.S. fans in attendance.One person who wasnt there was Galanis, who was vacationing with his family in Greece. Lloyds family stays home during big tournaments so she can focus, and likewise Galanis doesnt attend all of them, instead encouraging her from afar with texts and emails. Lloyd called him afterward and he asked what she was doing.Winning World Cups, he recalled her saying nonchalantly.Galanis has worked with other national team players, including goalkeeper Hope Solo and former defender Heather Mitts. More recently he has worked with Yoreli Rincon, a promising 22-year-old midfielder who plays for the Colombia national team.But none has been a full-time job, except Lloyd.After a pair of exhibition matches this month, Lloyd and the rest of the U.S. national team heads team to Brazil for the Olympics, opening with a game against New Zealand on Aug. 3.The United States has the last three gold medals in the sport. No team has won a World Cup then the Olympics in consecutive years.After the Rio Games, Lloyd will marry her high school sweetheart, Brian Hollins. And her book, When Nobody Was Watching: My Hard-Fought Journey to the Top of the Soccer World, which details her relationship with Galanis, is set for release at the end of September.She loves it when something big is sitting there waiting to be taken -- she wants it to be hers, Galanis said. Other people fold under pressure. Carli thrives under pressure. ' ' '