Football is Back!
By Brother Rogers
“Fall is my favorite time of year,” said my wife. “I like the change of seasons, the cooler air, fall colors and fall fashions.”
Hmm, I thought. I like fall too, but it has nothing to do with brown leaves or khaki clothes. Like many Southerners, fall means one thing to me – the return of college football. Fall means three consecutive months of games every weekend followed by the glorious bowl season which crescendos with simultaneous bowl games on New Year’s Day.
College football is an ingrained part of our culture in the South, and even more so since the proliferation of games on cable television allows so many teams to be televised. In the 1970s, fans were excited if their team had two or three television appearances in one season. Today, we are disappointed if our team is not on TV at least seven or eight times.
Most of us plan our fall schedules around football, even those who are not fans. I received a Saturday speaking engagement, and my first thought was “which games will I miss if I accept.” My Sunday school class is having a pre-game tailgate party as a social, instead of meeting for dinner at someone’s home. Supposedly, the best time to go to the grocery store in Starkville is when Mississippi State is playing at home or on TV, although I wouldn’t know from experience.
Many families across the state will plan their Thanksgiving holiday activities around the State-Ole Miss football game. For those who are not fans, this must be irksome. For those of us who can’t get enough football, watching this rivalry game will be savored as much as the sweet potato casserole.
In the South, we use college football to mark time. Someone asked me about when a certain event took place a few years ago, and I said, “I know it was before the third Saturday in October because that’s when I went to the Alabama-Tennessee game.”
Folks in Mississippi remember where they were when State beat Alabama in 1980 just as Americans living at the time recall their whereabouts on the day President Kennedy was shot.
For many Southerners, our happiest memories are tied to college football games. Before I married and started a family, one of the happiest days of my life without a doubt was Alabama’s national championship victory over the Miami Hurricanes in the 1993 Sugar Bowl. I have shaken hands with the president, landed on an aircraft carrier and appeared on national television, but all these experiences pale in comparison to winning it all in college football.
As ridiculous as this sounds, we fans understand. Were any of us surprised when the president and vice president of the United States, both Southerners, interrupted their busy schedules to watch last year’s Arkansas-Tennessee game?
Knowledge of college football is more important in the professional world than playing a good round of golf. A female state legislator in Atlanta told me she started following the Georgia Bulldogs because it helped her get along better with her colleagues. Devotion to college football in the South is so widespread that its only rival for a conversation starter is the weather.
September ushers in my favorite season – football season. Hope springs eternal while unknown joys and disappointments await. Like the warriors on the gridiron, I am armed and prepared…with remote control in hand. Happy viewing!
“Fall is my favorite time of year,” said my wife. “I like the change of seasons, the cooler air, fall colors and fall fashions.”
Hmm, I thought. I like fall too, but it has nothing to do with brown leaves or khaki clothes. Like many Southerners, fall means one thing to me – the return of college football. Fall means three consecutive months of games every weekend followed by the glorious bowl season which crescendos with simultaneous bowl games on New Year’s Day.
College football is an ingrained part of our culture in the South, and even more so since the proliferation of games on cable television allows so many teams to be televised. In the 1970s, fans were excited if their team had two or three television appearances in one season. Today, we are disappointed if our team is not on TV at least seven or eight times.
Most of us plan our fall schedules around football, even those who are not fans. I received a Saturday speaking engagement, and my first thought was “which games will I miss if I accept.” My Sunday school class is having a pre-game tailgate party as a social, instead of meeting for dinner at someone’s home. Supposedly, the best time to go to the grocery store in Starkville is when Mississippi State is playing at home or on TV, although I wouldn’t know from experience.
Many families across the state will plan their Thanksgiving holiday activities around the State-Ole Miss football game. For those who are not fans, this must be irksome. For those of us who can’t get enough football, watching this rivalry game will be savored as much as the sweet potato casserole.
In the South, we use college football to mark time. Someone asked me about when a certain event took place a few years ago, and I said, “I know it was before the third Saturday in October because that’s when I went to the Alabama-Tennessee game.”
Folks in Mississippi remember where they were when State beat Alabama in 1980 just as Americans living at the time recall their whereabouts on the day President Kennedy was shot.
For many Southerners, our happiest memories are tied to college football games. Before I married and started a family, one of the happiest days of my life without a doubt was Alabama’s national championship victory over the Miami Hurricanes in the 1993 Sugar Bowl. I have shaken hands with the president, landed on an aircraft carrier and appeared on national television, but all these experiences pale in comparison to winning it all in college football.
As ridiculous as this sounds, we fans understand. Were any of us surprised when the president and vice president of the United States, both Southerners, interrupted their busy schedules to watch last year’s Arkansas-Tennessee game?
Knowledge of college football is more important in the professional world than playing a good round of golf. A female state legislator in Atlanta told me she started following the Georgia Bulldogs because it helped her get along better with her colleagues. Devotion to college football in the South is so widespread that its only rival for a conversation starter is the weather.
September ushers in my favorite season – football season. Hope springs eternal while unknown joys and disappointments await. Like the warriors on the gridiron, I am armed and prepared…with remote control in hand. Happy viewing!