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What It Was ..... Was Football 

By Jim Richards

Ah..Its almost here. As football season approaches, it is interesting to reflect on one of our national pastimes.  Every year, thousands of both young and old people gather in huge crowds each weekend in the fall to watch an annual ritual called college football. They arrive  on campus in all varieties of colorful garb measured to match particular old school colors, drive into parking lots with streamed or painted automobiles, have giant tailgate parties, and pack themselves into massive stadiums to whoop and holler for their favorite team. They often travel great distances, spend untold amounts of money on food, hotel rooms, alumni functions, and some even arrive on private jets to support their particular school on any given Saturday. What is it that creates  this driving force that keeps so many returning year after year?

 Perhaps it is simply a love of this game called football, but strangely, there has always been a mystery why so many of the old grads so fervently gravitate to these yearly gatherings with such unparalleled exuberance. Some will explain that the fans are merely trying to re- kindle their lost past, to recapture the youthful spirit that they once experienced while on the campus, or that perhaps that simply, some kind of lasting spirit of competition between rival institutions prevails over these contests. Once settled in the stands, the crowd often screams and shouts all types of encouragement, as if the team down on the field could actually hear what they are saying. Referees are personally chastised and cursed verbally from red-faced alums but the intended party almost never actually receives these comments. Fights often break out between complete strangers in the stands over a simple disagreement about a particular play on the field. If a certain team loses the game, the fans in the stands often grumble and stumble out of the stadium as if the world has suddenly ended and nothing else in life matters. Reading some of the internet message boards makes one wonder what in the world could make someone so angry about a simple game played by young men that are mostly in their teens. Watching some of the alumni gatherings is often comical and yet sometimes sad because many of these loyal backers actually revert to actions that resemble childlike tantrums.  And what usually happens is that after the Monday morning quarterbacks have their say…much is all forgotten a few short days later.

 There is no mistake that the draw to the stadiums is strong each year and college football has become a business. In between yells for “Yea Team” one will hear “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” blasting from bombastic obnoxious TV scoreboards. Football rules in the fall and money is the driving force for the school. But the money rolls in from fans each year for luxurious boxes and preferred seating. Winning is everything, but for the losing fans, the time worn phrase “Wait until next year” will be shouted and heard for countless years to come. The mystique of the draw for this fall ritual is so mystifying that it may never be understood. The lure is hard to explain and wiser men may be able to someday understand why this loyalty to the past is so strongly perpetuated year after year. Last years games are history. For most, the Saturday game at hand is the only important one. It will be discussed in newsprint and coffee groups  in detail for a period of 6 days and on the seventh, it will start all over again.

 And as an added postscript… I can hardly wait for when the Aggies and the Longhorns go at it again at Thanksgiving. My precious tickets just came in the mail.

Jim Richards

Updated

August 2002