Jenny Winston diary: Athletes and rock stars

EDITOR'S NOTE: HoustonTexans.com is pleased to introduce fans to Jenny Winston, the wife of starting right tackle Eric Winston. She provides periodic diary entries on a range of topics to give fans a woman's perspective on the NFL and life off the field.

Eric and I recently attended a weekend country music festival in Enterprise, Ala., with a few friends including Houston Texans starting center Chris Myers and his wife, Jenny. I think we would all agree that calling this event a music festival is a great understatement. It was an event that brought more than 120,000 people to a gigantic open field in small-town Alabama. Some were describing it as the Woodstock of Country music.

Bama Jam is a three-day event that brings various musical acts together to put on one continuous show beginning at around 3 p.m. until well past midnight. It is a special event because many of the proceeds go to several charities in the area to benefit the community of Coffee County, Ala. This year, popular acts such as Taylor Swift, Kid Rock and Pat Green were in the lineup.

Being from West Texas, Eric grew up a huge Pat Green fan and I quickly became a fan after receiving several CDs as presents from Eric on birthdays and Christmas. So you can imagine how excited we were when Eric was asked to introduce the band before they came out on stage to perform at Bama Jam. Not only did the band put on an outstanding show, but they graciously allowed us to remain backstage to watch them play.

It was such a different experience being able to see the "band's eye view" during a performance. Also, it was interesting to see that sometimes things don't always go as perfect as they may seem to during a show. About half way through the concert, Pat Green sliced his heel open and it was bleeding visibly from where we were standing. I guarantee, however, that few fans even noticed that he had injured himself. It reminded me a little bit of the Texans games because sometimes players will injure themselves and just play on as if nothing is wrong. I think both the Rockstar and the Athlete would agree that the show must go on.

Just when we thought our night couldn't possibly get any better, it did. After this high-energy concert, Pat hobbled over to us and invited us to hang on his tour bus. I think Eric (all 6-7' of him) turned back into an 11-year-old kid as we followed the Superstar to his home on the road.

We visited with Pat and a few of his band members for more than an hour after the concert. It was really refreshing to meet a group of people that were so down-to-earth and so welcoming to us. We had so many questions for them about traveling to different cities and performing in front of huge crowds. They had equally as many questions for Eric about playing in different stadiums and dealing with the pressures of big games and loud fans. What was really funny, I thought, is that these guys were such celebrities to us, but it seemed that in some ways Eric was a celebrity to them.

We invited Pat to come out to a Texans game, and he said that he hoped to fit in a trip to Houston in the touring schedule this season. Either way, it was exciting to see that he was a fan of the Houston Texans just like so many other Texans are such fans of his! I'll have to keep ya'll updated if he decides to grace us with his presence at Reliant!

Thanks so much again for taking the time to read about our little adventure! Please keep e-mailing questions and comments! Until next time..Go Texans!! =)

To ask Jenny a question, click**here**.