In the seven-plus years that my beautiful high school sweetheart Petra and I have been married, we've been to more than a whopping 50 concerts.
Everything from Morris Day and the Time to Kacey Musgraves to Snoop Dogg to 1975 to Bruno Mars to Tom Petty to K-Flay to the Kings of Leon and on and on and on.
I'm extremely fortunate that the young girl that I first asked to "go" with me in 1971 at Albright Elementary in Newport -- meaning it's now been 47 years since I first started chasing her literally and figuratively -- loves sports, crime shows, animals, the theater, movies and music just as much as I do.
We'll begin our annual summer concert schedule next Wednesday night at the AMP with another round of the Dave Matthews Band, but Petra also knows that the beginning of the summer concerts coincide with the beginning of Arkansas football and basketball camps.
But the then-Georgia resident knew what she was getting into when I asked her back in December 2010 "What would you say?" about tying the knot.
While DMB gave us "You and Me" -- our song we dance by the pool to on every June 18th anniversary night -- the band has also given us "Crush," which could best describe June for college football coaches, football and basketball prospects and those of us who keep busy writing stories about them.
In addition to hosting camps, those same football coaches also now have the ability to have official visitors during the month and there will be plenty checking out the Razorbacks.
Arkansas coaches and those from the 11 other in-state colleges with a football program will be on hand for the Natural State Elite Camp from 11:30 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. on June 2 at War Memorial Stadium.
The event, which is designed to have all the state's top 2019 prospects or the "Best of What's Around," if you will, is hosted by Ouachita Baptist this year.
It started back in 2015 and seems to be a wonderful deal to help all the schools, especially those who don't have SEC budgets.
New Razorback head coach Chad Morris and his staff will then begin their version of DMB's "Ants Dancing" with seven on-campus camps during the month of June.
That will begin with a pair of night camps on June 3 and June 9 and continue with an overnight Pad Camp on June 11-12.
They will also host a pair of Elite Academy Camps on June 14. One is for quarterbacks and wide receivers, and another for offensive and defensive linemen, those so-called "big uglies" who will ask each other to "Crash into Me" to figure out just who the "Dancing Nancies" are.
The Razorbacks will have another night camp on June 16 after hosting a Kicking Academy during the day.
Arkansas head basketball coach Mike Anderson will also be hosting camps during June with separate day camps for first- through third-graders and for fourth- through sixth-graders.
The Razorbacks will have a team camp on June 15-16 and a camp June 17-20 that can accommodate those wanting to stay overnight or commute.
They'll finish the month with another June 25-27 camp for grades four through 12.
"My American Baby" won't have to ask me "Where are you going?" in June. She's been around long enough to know.
At least there won't be any "Satellite" camps to cover.
Dudley E. Dawson can be reached at ddawson@nwadg.com.
Sports on 05/24/2018