Gridiron Giddy

It’s September and I just got off the phone with my grandpa. Like most of my relatives, he was calling to check in my “college adventures”, filled with questions about my new home and new school. It was near the end of the conversation that he asked what I liked best. And I told him:

“I love the football here.”

Now that I think about it, that’s a pretty odd thing coming from someone who grew up in a place with a Division I college football team of its own and not one, but two football teams to cheer for on almost every Sunday as far back as I can remember. But Saturdays in Columbia have been the best days of my week.

How can that be?

I’ll tell you right up front that it’s not just because the Tigers are ranked in the top five in the latest college football polls. But that helps, too.

No, I think the biggest reason I really get into football, especially college football here, is the energy behind the team. Back home, there are a lot of football teams. A lot of players. A lot of football writers. There are probably even a lot of fans, just going by the numbers. But its been a long time (and a lot of losses) since those fans and press and players really got excited about the dawn of another season on the gridiron.

I’ve been lucky enough to get into a couple of games this season, although usually near the end, after the Tigers are up big. But on most game days, I’m in the parking lot early in the morning, watching the fans party and the excitement build up before the games. The lot is packed; everyone who can get a ticket is here. Kids toss around a black and gold nerf ball in the empty spaces, Springsteen blares off of someone’s stereo and mixes with the fight song and barbecue smoke wafts over everything. A half an hour before the coin toss, the lot is empty of people; everyone’s already at the stadium while the teams are still in warm-up.

That kind of excitement is contagious. When Saturday mornings get here, I’m at work, but it doesn’t feel like it. It feels like what football was for me a long time ago: a reason to have fun and get excited because you felt like part of an awesome team.