'One Great Season' of College Football

New York City-based writer John Wise hasn't been home in three months. He's got a suitcase, a car, a load of computer and photography equipment, and a roadmap—but he's living the dream few people will ever have a chance to experience.

Like many people all across the U.S., Wise— a website producer and editor extraordinaire who had also been a reporter and a sports writer in years' past— found himself jobless over the summer. But instead of starting the proverbial job search, he hit the road on the adventure of a lifetime.

You see, Wise— a self-described lover of college football— is living the season of a lifetime, also known as One Great Season. To sum it up, Wise is spending the entire four-month college football season, traveling to a different game in a different town to watch different teams each week. He's taking in the entire experience—from the locker room interviews to shooting the game on the field to tailgating with the fans and getting a look at campuses across the country.

It's a project he says he thought up years ago, but never had the chance to complete until now. He first came up with the One Great Season concept in 1994 when he graduated from the University of Cincinnati.

"So I told myself if I didn't have a job before my birthday -- at the end of July -- I'd spend the fall driving around the country, writing a book about college football," Wise said in a recent interview via email.

It turns out he did get a job right after graduation, but years later when the opportunity presented itself again, he jumped at the chance. Wise spent weeks plotting and planning his first few stops, and then he hit the road.

So far, he's hit nine different matchups, and his list of games is a work-in-progress, Wise says. Last weekend, he visited New Haven, Connecticut for the annual Ivy League battle between Harvard and Yale, and this week, it's Pittsburgh at West Virginia. Earlier in the season, he covered games like Georgia at Oklahoma State, Florida at LSU, USC at Ohio State, Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, and Utah at TCU, to name a few.

Wise's journey keeps him busy all week long—not just on game day. Early in the week, he interviews coaches and players—much of which is posted on OneGreatSeason.com . He also gets to know the campuses he's visiting and the towns, for that matter, before the hours and hours of tailgating on Saturday ever begins. He's even got an intern back in New York to help with the planning and logistics.

So what happens to One Great Season when the season's over? Plenty, Wise hopes. His ultimate goal is to write a book about his experience.

"I obviously hope to get a book published, but if I don't, I'll still be able to look back when I'm 60 and tell the story about how I had the courage to take the risk," Wise said. "I just hope I get back to Brooklyn in December in one, healthy piece."

To reach that goal, Wise is doing what he can to draw attention to the project. He's made a number of appearances on local radio and TV stations in the towns he's visited, and he's also been busy meeting fans at the games who will—hopefully—spread the word about One Great Season.

As you might imagine, being on the road for the entire college football season isn't cheap, and Wise has no shame in asking his supporters to chip in. He's asking for $1 from 30,000 people in a fundraising effort he calls 30 Thousand Helpers .

"I'm taking a large leap of faith that many people will hear about my project and visit the 30 Thousand Helpers section of onegreatseason.com and make a donation," Wise said.

Of course, larger donations are more than welcome. Wise tells supporters that $10 will buy him dinner, and $25 gets him a tank of gas. At the time this story was written, he'd collected nearly $2,200 from 64 people.

"I also have confidence that someone will hear about my project and will want to publish my book after the season," Wise explained. "I've been going by the logic that all it takes is one right person to hear about it."

To read more about the One Great Season project, follow this link to Wise's website . There you'll find his latest reports from the road, along with photo galleries , videos and more. You can also visit the 30 Thousand Helpers section of the site to make a donation to the project.

One Great Season is also on facebook and twitter. Click here to become a fan of the project on facebook , and if you'd like to follow One Great Season on twitter, follow this link .