RSS Feed |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The fun of football
"Is it true," the familiar voice boomed, "that the University of Georgia is installing artificial turf at Sanford Stadium to keep the cheerleaders from grazing?" It was my friend, Jones. He's an Auburn graduate. He's not the biggest Auburn fan I know. Just the loudest. He calls every year about this time to talk about college football. And so it starts again. The thermometer says summer. But the calendar is hinting at fall. I love fall. It's my favorite time of the year. Cool, crisp air, which would be perfect about now. Beautiful colors on the trees. And football, especially college football. Saturday marks the start of another season of college football. I'll be in Athens. I've been a Georgia fan my whole life. My father, who graduated from Georgia, took me to my first game - a Georgia-Auburn game - when I was five. This is the 20th year I've had season tickets to Georgia games, and I haven't missed many games, home or away, in those two decades. Virtually everything in my life is scheduled around Georgia football in the fall. The approach of football season makes grown men feel like kids at Christmas. We're all anxious to see what we're getting this season. My Webster's dictionary defines a fan as "a person enthusiastic about a specified sport." Of course, the very next word is fanatic: "a person whose extreme zeal goes beyond what is reasonable." In other words, there's a fine line between being a fan and being a fanatic. I admit openly and without shame that I've crossed that line on occasion. But I'm not alone. I'm not even the biggest or craziest Georgia fan. One guy paints a Bulldog on top of his bald head. Another dresses up in tights and a cape and calls himself "Superdawg." One man spent the night in line recently to have his picture taken with Uga, the university's white English bulldog mascot. Yes, my house is full of Bulldog memorabilia. I've been known to bark at the games. I drive a car that is red, one of Georgia's school colors. Glory, the black and white Springer spaniel that lives at my house, was named for the Georgia fight song. And yes, I take the games seriously. But not too seriously. I don't like to lose, but I'm usually over it by the time I get back to the car and get another piece of fried chicken. A Saturday afternoon in Athens is a glorious thing. We'll see friends we haven't seen since last season. There will be enough food and drink to feed a small army. The pageantry and tradition of college football make it the greatest of all sports. But Jones' call reminded me that another reason I like college football is the rivalries and the goodnatured teasing that comes along with it. Just a few weeks ago, my buddy Rob showed up wearing a Clemson T-shirt. "Does your mother know you left the house dressed like that?" I asked him. Of course, Rob is just 9 years old, so he's got time to grow out of this unfortunate phase. In situations like this, it's tempting to blame the parents for such behavior. But the truth is, his parents are really nice folks. Besides, even in the finest, most upstanding families - like my own, for instance - there are black sheep. My brother, Marvin, graduated from Florida State. "It could be worse," my great aunt, Cecile, used to say. "He could have gone to Tech." It was good to hear from Jones. I hadn't heard from him in a while. I figured he'd entered the Obnoxious Football Fan Relocation Program after my beloved Georgia Bulldogs whipped his Tigers last year. We talked for nearly an hour, and it got me ready for the season. As we wound up our chat, I had one last thing to ask him. "Do you know how you can tell a funeral at Auburn?"
He didn't. "The lead tractor has its lights on."
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
