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By B.J. Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com Senior Editor
SouthernPigskin.com Senior Editor B.J. Bennett continues his exclusive series on football in the south.
Down Here IV is the fourth installment of Bennett's continuing series on southern college football. Click to read Down Here I, Down Here II, and Down Here III. Email Bennett your southern college football thoughts at .
It’s been a hard last eight months for the nation. A grand scale economic downturn sent the financial market into a tailspin, a fall which hit the automobile, real estate and retail industries like a set of dominoes in track cleats. Families have been forced to reconsider and reshuffle their priorities. Many, like quarterbacks facing a heavy rush, have been forced to make difficult decisions in a frenzied, hurried state. Just like a football team, families have had to fight to move forward, inch by inch. It hasn’t been an upfield battle, rather an uphill battle, as the odds have been stacked against many in their efforts to reach paydirt.
As we as a people have pushed through the spring and summer months, it’s been a little harder to force a smile at times, a little more daunting to look to tomorrow. Call it frivolous or overstated, call it juvenile or silly, but soon, at the end of the week, tomorrow won’t be so discouraging. The entire south is waiting with open arms to welcome college football back to the fray, the cultural icon we cling to with all of our hopes and dreams. Down here, college football isn’t king, it’s dad; we’re all family, remember. And we are the three year old son wrapped around pop’s right leg joyfully along for the ride. Don’t underestimate the importance of something seemingly so simple.
We have spent the last three months watching more YouTube clips than a computer lab full of high school seniors, reading pre-season magazines as avidly as the other magazines we read for the articles and analyzing every coach and player quote like they are speaking directly to us. Recently at a local bar, my friend watched a young lady walk by, then turned to me and said, “What do you think?” I paused, thought for a moment, then responded, “…I still like Alabama in the SEC West”. He nodded and went back to his drink. You know August is here.
But we all have our things that make us happy. In the south, it’s college football. We love church, BBQ, even yard work at times, but nothing riles up the southern folk quite like a little southern pigskin. Not to compare the economic recession with a game played by college kids, but the pull of both is very real and very significant on our emotions. While gross domestic product may have slipped and the unemployment rate might be too high, nothing can prompt a rise in community and state pride like the success of a favorite football team.
Even if championship aspirations aren’t met, simply seeing our favorite team run out of the tunnel and take the field puts a little extra jump in our step. The hard work, the persistence, the triumphs, the disappointments; we identify with our favorite coaches, players and teams. The games take us back to a time, our high school and college years, that had much less stress and were much more simple. Friday and Saturday nights, pom-poms, team sweaters, cookouts and time spent with friends. For a few hours every Saturday, we get to experience that nostalgia once again. In a fast-paced world, college football slows our weekends down and allows us to take a break from the daily grind and, recently, the daily struggle. Games provide us with the thrill and drama of everyday life, though we often act otherwise, minus the real consequences.
We need the games to return. College towns like Auburn, Clemson, Gainesville, Knoxville and Tuscaloosa get rejuvenated during the season. In the fall, the summer parties from Clearwater Beach, East Gulf Shores, Jacksonville, Myrtle Beach and Wilmington Beach get flipped inland. Our weekends become our getaway, our vacation from the weekday and the stress that comes with it.
As the nation, the region, moves forward and tries to regain a sense of normalcy, college football stands as a necessary part of that progression. The game brings anticipation back to our workweek. At a recent Darius Rucker/Rascal Flatts concert on the First Coast, the former Hootie and the Blowfish singer took a moment to speak candidly before singing his hit single “It Won’t be Like This for Long”. Referencing the economy, he sincerely thanked everyone for taking their hard-earned money and spending it to see him sing. He then dedicated his song to his fans. Moments later, as he upped the tempo, Rucker talked about the arrival of SEC football. The cheer was enormous. The correlation between a song about things getting better and the arrival of kickoff seemed quite serendipitous. After Rascal Flatts had been playing for some time, they started doing the Gator Chomp in the middle of the stage. The stadium erupted, causing the loudest noise of the night. Florida fans cheered, FSU fans booed. Even at a concert, college football still caused the rowdiest response.
As the season nears closer, you can feel the mood of people here start to improve. Just like international athletic competition can unite nations and prompt great American pride, the start of the season does the same down here. College football is our Olympic Games, held every Saturday in the fall.
Kickoff offers a fresh start for both our teams and ourselves. The college football season is set to take us away from the doldrums of the first part of the year and lead us into Thanksgiving, Christmas and the new year, a time to be thankful for what we do have. Games bring people together like few other things can. A prime example? My family can’t get together for lunch or dinner during the week, but we will all gather like clockwork around the television for the start of every ESPN Saturday Night Game of the Week. That, more than anything, is the magic of college football in this part of the country. So many things separate and classify us in the world today. College football brings us together. Considering the perceptual adjustments the last year has brought, a season with those closest to us is just what we need. As Rucker’s song says, it won’t be like this for long.
It’s been very difficult at times for many to pay their bills for much of the last year. With the return of college football and the camaraderie that comes with it, we will soon start paying more attention to some of the things that truly matter to us most.
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