A Somewhat Civil War

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

We’ve made it to the “ber” months.  I have to admit that this is my absolute favorite time of year. Almost all the things I love are in these months. We have fall, which, don’t worry, I’m not going to tax you with another love letter for autumn. Don’t tempt me though because I am utterly capable of making them ad nauseum.  I won’t apologize for those feelings; I am just attempting to not drown all of you in them so much. I can’t say you won’t get the occasional sprinkling, but I do intend to try not to submerge you against your will.  Last week I extolled the joys of the rural high school football.  This week is something similar, but the level is not even remotely close.  This weekend, and it will have already begun by the time you’re reading this, college football kicks off in all its epic glory.  Things change around here at this time of year, and they change a lot.

First, let us extol the virtues of the season.  Interestingly enough, one of the best things about college football is that, because people in these parts do take it so very seriously, it becomes a point of hostility.  Now, you might be thinking that hostility doesn’t sound like a positive and you would typically be right but let me explain. Normally, people, not only in the South but most anywhere find all sorts of serious issues to fight about.  We have politics and money and all the usual suspects that cause people to be angry and rail about. But the beauty of college football season is, now for just a little while and in just a few ways, we suddenly find a new reason to hate.  And yes, I know, this still seems outlandish but here is the silver lining to the big billowing storm cloud I have presented. Archrivals that loathe each other to extents that can become disconcertingly extreme do become terribly heated. But there is one shining light to the whole scenario. All the normal people within these fanbases, I strongly urge you to ignore the exceptions to these rules despite how much attention they may draw, have one thing in common. No matter how passionate they feel about their team or how abhorrent they are of another, they can all come to the conclusion that football, no matter how significant at the moment, is just a game.  All the vitriol can be diffused when we settle ourselves and remember it is a bunch of late teens and early twenty somethings playing a game.  Occasionally it takes us a bit to remember this, but we do, and again I stress that I am referencing the normal nonpsychotic fans, eventually remember.  This ability to set aside our differences no matter how major, as a frivolity is not something that we seem to be able to do with any other debating topic.  Hence, there is a bright side to us battling it out, we can understand these are the trivial battles of children and not the wars of grown men.  The warfare (unlike politics and the like) is civil, mostly.

Also, as I am a sucker for tradition, once you dig deep into football season you find a bounty of it.  My personal favorite team has a tradition that I say you’d have to be literally dead not to appreciate.  In a massive stadium of nearly ninety thousand people, the announcer tells you to turn your attention to one corner to watch an enormous eagle begin to circle the stadium and land at the 50-yard line. If something does not stir in your very soul at the sheer majestic wonder of it all, there is something terribly wrong with you as a person. I have had many an archrival agree with me that despite their vile feelings toward my team, that the eagle flight is something amazing to behold.  And there are many more traditions that it could take me hours to evaluate.  Some people who are staunchly anti-traditional anything will embrace all sorts of things in the name of something that their school or team has done for years. It takes no convincing for me though.  I am all for taking little chunks of historical fascination that we want to embrace.  As a wholehearted history nerd, I am all for something that has been passed down through generations only to become a treasure.  Also, I am a nerd in the sense that I am full of random trivia so when I get the opportunity to share the little tidbits that are the treasures of my team, I could not possibly be more excited.  While I love watching the game of college football, I love the time-honored beloved traditions just as much, possibly even more.

As I am sitting here, it is gameday.  I am outside with my family watching the tv on our back patio.  The games haven’t started yet but there are tales of off-season heartache and triumph and stories of seasons past being told.  The smell of smoke is coming from nearby where a plethora of meats are cooking.  The teary comments of players who have sold plasma to pay for college being suddenly given a scholarship are mingling with noisy hummingbirds and a very vocal hawk.  The season is here with all its wonder, and I could not be happier to welcome it.